


Lines and Boundaries: Laura

by orphan_account



Series: Lines and Boundaries [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Found Family, Slow Burn, Waitress AU, Werewolf!Danny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-02-28 11:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 28,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2730122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Carmilla is a vampiric waitress, Laura is a diner regular, Danny is a werewolf, and Styria becomes a battle ground.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Usual with a Side of Strange

**Author's Note:**

> So um, I did a thing. And there will be more chapters. Let me know if you guys like it!

"What'll it be today, cupcake?" Laura looks up to see her regular waitress practically waltzing towards her booth. She's in uniform, as always, but her bangs are still shading her eyes despite the visor she has to wear that's supposed to prevent that from occurring. Her name tag is askew, but Mircalla is still readable. Laura notices she doesn't even bother to pull out her little notepad and instead tucks her pen into the pocket of her apron, one arm propped against Laura's table, supporting her weight as she leans against it.

Man, she's had the biggest crush on this girl since she first saw her all the way back to last semester.

"Mircalla, huh?"

Carmilla rolls her eyes and straightens her name tag. Laura noticed a long time ago that Carmilla does not, under any circumstances, smile. Nor does her face shift very much away from her rigid expression. Eye rolls and little smirks are a commodity in Laura's world.

"Beefcake who types these up is no Akeelah and the Bee." She says by way of explanation. "Hot chocolate and brownies again, cutie? I can't imagine the amount of sugar in your blood right now."

"LaF's brownies are amazing." Laura replies with a sheepish grin. "And the cocoa always helps me get through the homework from the Philosophy class I have to take."

Carmilla raises an eyebrow.

"I majored in Philosophy." She says.

"Tell me all about it." Laura pleads only half jokingly. She's always assumed Carmilla had gotten herself a Science or Math degree and is surprised by the revelation that counters her presumptions. Instead of sitting herself down across the table to speak to Laura, however, Carmilla steps away and starts heading back to the counter.

"Order will be right up, creampuff."

 

* * *

 

A week later, Laura is back at the diner again. She doesn't particularly like Dean's, but does enjoy the quiet it provides on nights when she needs a never ending supply of cocoa and a comfortable seat.

She doesn't mind the dark haired waitress in charge of her favorite booth either.

"Back again are we?" Carmilla sounds like she is in the process of taking a drag from a cigarette. Her voice is raspy and kind of gravelly and all Laura can think is _holy shit_   _she's hot_.

"Study calls."

"And you prefer to be exposed to the toxic wasteland that is this diner rather than study at home because why, exactly?"

"My roommate is kind of high maintenance...?" Laura trails off, wincing under Carmilla's scrutiny.

"Sock on the door kind of night?" Laura nods. Betty is great and super friendly and follows the chore wheel, but there's only so many socks on the doorknob nights a girl can take.

"Yeah." She says, offering the waitress a small smile.

"I'll go get your order."

Laura watches her go, trying not be affected by the slight sway of her hips, and fails miserably.

 

* * *

 

Laura walks into Dean's on Saturday night to find a plate of brownies next to a steaming cup of hot cocoa on her usual table. The place is dead. There was one man sat at the counter, digging into a bowl of pasta, but other than that, just Laura.

Oh and Carmilla, who is sitting behind the counter, a mug in front of her, reading.

When Laura doesn't immediately sit down, Carmilla raises an eyebrow.

"We're you planning on changing it up today, cupcake?" Laura looks from the food on the table to Carmilla and back again.

"How did you know?"

"Saturday night, I figured Paris Hilton was going to be having more fun than the both of us combined." It takes Laura only a second to realize she's talking about Betty.

"Well, I know you did it mostly for business, but thank you."

Carmilla takes a sip of whatever she's drinking and rolls her eyes.

"Dig in, creampuff."

 

* * *

 

Laura prepares to drag herself home after spending the night at Dean's, again, and just as she's packing up, Carmilla walks by, out of uniform and instead wearing leather pants _holy shit_.

"Goodnight, creampuff." She says gruffly when she catches Laura staring.

Laura waits until she's out the door before letting her head hit the table.

Worst. Crush. Ever.

 

* * *

 

"You've been eating too many of my brownies from work, man." LaFontaine chuckles when Laura complains of lack of sleep.

"They're too good." Laura mutters back. "And it's not my fault Betty keeps bringing back neanderthals to our room on almost a nightly basis. I don't really have a choice."

"Well for starters, you can go somewhere other than Dean's. There's a 24-hour vegan place down the block."

"I'm comfortable."

"Are you seriously still crushing on Carmilla?"

"What? I'm - I'm not - " she trails off on a laugh. LaFontaine grins mischievously.

"You know she's still hung up about that girl who died a few years ago, right?"

Laura grimaces.

"Hey I'm just looking out for you. She doesn't exactly have the best reputation."

 

* * *

 

Carmilla is lounging in her booth when Laura arrives on a Friday night. She's got a book propped up against her forearm, her wrist bent inwards, fingers gripping the tops of the book. Laura sits down across from her.

The place is, as usual, deserted save for the two of them. Carmilla has even turned off the television in one corner, at which Laura has caught her shooting glares every now and then.

"Hey." She says, watching Carmilla's eyelashes flutter as the waitress looks up from her book.

"Hey." Carmilla replies. She gestures to the plate of brownies in the middle of the table and the cocoa, both of which, truthfully, Laura has not even noticed.

"Thanks." Laura says. Carmilla just gives a small nod. Laura takes Carmilla's continued reading as a cue to take out her own books. They both work in comfortable silence. In fact, Laura finds herself relaxing at the sound of Carmilla turning pages and occasionally sipping from her own mug. It's easier, in the quiet, to get her work done.

 

* * *

  

She is outlining the third paragraph of her Philosophy paper when a loud crash startles her out of her concentrated state.

"What was that?" She asks, instinctively getting up to take a peek out the door. Carmilla, impossibly, beats her there and shoves her away when she tries to turn the doorknob.

"Hey!" She protests. "I wanna know what's going on, too!"

"Get back in the booth, cupcake." Her usual drawl, which normally sends Laura's heartbeat into overdrive, makes her seethe in this moment.

"My name is Laura!"

"I know." Carmilla says simply. "Now go sit back down."

Laura backs away a step as Carmilla begins to barricade the door quickly. She supposes the adrenaline is taking over the waitress's limbs because she moves almost inhumanly fast, piling chairs up against one another.

"What are you doing?" Laura asks when Carmilla grabs her sleeve and starts practically dragging her back to the booth.

"Sit down, okay?" Carmilla looks exasperated. "I'll take care of this."

As soon as Carmilla leaves to go stand guard near the door, or whatever she's doing, Laura scrambles up on her knees and turns to watch what's going on.

"Open up, kitty!" A man says from outside the door. "Mother won't be happy if she's told that you're keeping me out."

"I'm not keeping you out, per se." Carmilla still seems calm, her tone unchanging. "More like preventing wolves from breaching our territory with just reason."

"Let me in."

"Bite me." There's another flurry of loud noises and then Carmilla is standing in front of Laura.

"There's - We're badly outnumbered here." Carmilla says, running a hand through her hair. "You need to hide under the table and be quiet."

"Outnumbered by what?"

"Werewolves."

"What? Why?"

"They don't like my family. We don't like them. Now please get under the table."

"I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on." Laura decides, crossing her arms. Carmilla's look of pure exasperation slides back into place.

"Now is not the time for a history lesson, cutie." Carmilla gestures as if encouraging Laura to follow her instructions. When the blonde doesn't move, she sighs. "Fine. Fine." She nods almost to herself. "I need you to get under the table please, Laura, _and then_ I'll give you a history lesson."

Laura crawls under the table.


	2. A Brief History Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a filler chapter. Carmilla and Laura discuss the events that have occured and Laura makes a startling discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm overwhelmed by the response I've been getting, thank you so much, and hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the story!

It takes roughly eight minutes and fifty three seconds for the conflict to be resolved, Laura times it on her wristwatch after deciding not to dial 911, so she knows she might be a little off on the numbers, but she stops the clock when Carmilla's boots come into view.

"Hey kitty, don't be so uptight." The same male voice demanding entry earlier, chuckles. "How many wolves did you get to sink some teeth into today? It's always a beautiful day when we get to do that."

Carmilla's boots are dirty. They're muddy at the soles, Laura notices, and her heel is dripping blood. Nice. Okay.

That history lesson better be coming up soon.

"Shut up, Momma's Boy." Carmilla mutters. "Go run home and cry to Mommy about the big bad wolves attacking you, when it was your fault in the first place."

"So I crossed the line by a foot." The man laughs again. "Who cares?"

"I do." Carmilla is angry, her voice raised. "Especially when it's my ass parked on the border every night!"

"Speaking of." The man's Converse comes into view as well. "I'll have a chat with mother about how you refused me entry."

"I refused the wolves entry. Not you."

"Still put me in danger, kitty. She's going to hear about it and - "

"While you're at it, why don't you also go and tell her how I saved your balls tonight?"

"- you'll be hearing from her." The man finishes, walking away, Laura listens to his footsteps get fainter and fainter.

"Whatever." Carmilla calls back. Laura sits still for a few more moments. At least until -

"So are you still alive down there or what?"

 

* * *

 

"Are you okay?" Laura exclaims as soon as she regains her footing.

Carmilla is slumped against the booth, her lip bleeding and her arms covered in claw marks.

"Not my blood." She manages to spit out, taking a long gulp from the mug she had been drinking out of before everything happened. Laura takes her seat.

"What the actual hell happened?" She asks, gathering her papers and checking to see if any are missing. "Like, I've heard of wolves and vampires and territory borders but why would anyone attack - "

It's true, she has. Silas is a school that embraces the supernatural and it's basically one of the only places where vampires and werewolves coexist peacefully. Not that Laura knows any vampires or werewolves, nor do these said beings ever really advertise their identity because hello, that's some scary shit.

And okay so Carmilla has said that Dean's is a part of the border which makes no sense because shouldn't there be vampires manning the diner or something? In case a wolf tries to cross lines? Why would the vampires leave their territory closest to the border unarmed?

Unless, Carmilla's - no.

 _No_.

Laura waits for Carmilla's fingers to uncurl from the mug's stem before snatching it out from under her nose.

"You're a vampire." She says, and she can hear her own voice going faint. "This is blood. Oh my god, have you been a vampire all along?"

Carmilla smiles slightly.

"History lesson, cutie?"

 

* * *

 

It makes sense.

Carmilla working at the diner every night. It makes perfect sense. She's protecting a border.

"I was eighteen when I was murdered - "

"Hold up!" Laura raises her hands. " _Murdered_?!"

Carmilla just rolls her eyes.

"I'm over it, cupcake. It was like 300 years ago."

Laura listens then to Carmilla's story which, weirdly enough, does not include the death of Ell something or other that, LaF always reminds Laura, Carmilla's is still worked up about. The portion of the story that involves Carmilla being underground for many years twists in Laura's gut. She feels a deep sense of sorrow on behalf of the vampire.

"So your mother, who owns this diner, is the head of the vampire clan here in Styria?" Laura questions when the tale crosses to present day, definitely not looking at the sliver of skin exposed by the thin gash of Carmilla's uniform near her chest.

"Correct."

"And the werewolves don't like you and you don't like them and the diner is right on the territorial border?"

"Yes."

"So what does that mean?"

"Well, other than the fact that you should probably be a little scared to bleed around me," Carmilla grins and Laura almost chokes on a brownie in shock. "You should also probably not mention my name in any establishments north of Alexander Street."


	3. The Border

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla is very opinionated about Harry Potter, stars, and sweeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE GOT SEASON 2!!!!! As always, hope you enjoy!

Carmilla being a vampire doesn't really change much.

Sure, it takes Laura a couple of days to wrap her head around this fact, but she feels _safe_ around Carmilla. Besides, her brain reasons, if the vampire wanted to hurt her, she'd already had plenty of opportunity. In other words, Laura is still totally crushing on Carmilla and the arch of her eyebrows and the purse of her lips and, _basically_ , everything about her.

 

* * *

 

She makes a stop at the diner before even going home one Friday night. Laura is so nervous that a girl wearing about fifty different shades of purple in her hair had to pull on her elbow to keep her from crossing onto the oncoming traffic on Alexander Street.

Carmilla is in her normal red and blue skirt and blouse ensemble, having discarded the visor, it seemed, for the time being.

"Well don't you look like a virgin sacrifice." Carmilla drawls when Laura slides into the booth.

Yep, the white dress probably was _not the best idea_.

"You're a little behind, Carm." Laura replies instead of attempting to feign confidence in her, admittedly, bad choice of wear. "I don't see my order on the table."

"That's 'cause I didn't think you were coming back." Laura can physically feel the lump forming in her throat at the sight of Carmilla's soft look and impossibly dark eyes.

"Well I'm here now." Laura says, deciding on the spot that sock on the door or not, she is staying at Dean's for the night. "Wanna share some brownies?"

 

* * *

 

 

Laura learns that Carmilla is hopeless at cleaning when the vampire takes out a broom and a dust pan in the middle of the night. She flails the broom around for a few minutes before returning it to its space in the broom closet, or at least that's what it looked like to Laura.

"Did you really just sweep?" Laura smiles at the eyebrow raise that is sent her way. "Or, like, attempt to sweep?"

"I swept."

"That's not how you sweep, Carmilla."

"Yeah? You do it then."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

And that's how Laura ends up sweeping the entirety of Dean's Diner at three-thirty in the morning.

 

* * *

 

 

She does not get the opportunity to talk to LaF about anything until three days later when the two of them are in Laura's dorm, LaF having walked in wih the intention of showing Laura a funny video of a kid almost falling from a slingshot ride.

"So Carmilla's a vampire." Laura says offhandedly.

"Of course she is." LaF is holding a tablet and is strategically angling it towards Laura. "She drinks like three mugs of blood a day."

"Did you not think it was something you should have shared with me?Was it not relevant information?"

LaFontaine shrugs and pushes the tablet towards Laura.

"I don't think she'd ever hurt you, Laura." They say.

 

* * *

 

 

Carmilla is a goof.

Laura decides this after she comments that blood is not really her thing and Carmilla smiles after a mouthful and flashes her red teeth at her.

"Carmilla, _no_."

It's yet another Saturday night and Laura is munching on LaF's brownies that she and Carmilla now share. She supposes it's probably healthier now that she's not eating the entire plate anymore.

"If you're going to be hanging around with a vampire, sweetheart, you'll need to get used to it."

Laura remains silent, realizing that she has a point. They have easily fallen into a strange routine. Laura does homework and drinks cocoa while Carmilla reads books and takes small sips of blood from her mug. They talk sometimes, but mostly spend the night enveloped in comfortable silence. Laura finds that the onus to start a conversation is on her most nights because Carmilla is a genuinely quiet person. She's tried to dig into the vampire's hobbies and likes and dislikes and if she's being honest with herself, there's been no progress.

"If you could be an animal, which animal would you be?" Carmilla smiles like she knows something Laura doesn't. "What?"

"Nothing, cupcake. You're a little random is all."

"What animal, then?"

"A cat."

"If you could have any superpower - "

"Seriously, buttercup?"

"I would rather die than have to work on this paper."

Carmilla rolls her eyes, completely visible for once, with her hair tied up in a bun. Laura finds herself tracing the exposed line of Carmilla's jaw with her own eyes before being able to force them away.

"Then stop working on it." Carmilla says returning to her book.

"But it's worth a lot for the class and I know I already failed the midterm, so _this is the only way_."

"I'll go with you, Harry." The vampire says, her face not giving anything away, but her voice an octave higher and clearly meant to be mocking. "We have so many other options that _don't_ involve you dying in the Forbidden Forest, but if you insist that it's the only way, then it must be so."

"Did you just - " Laura feels a laugh bubble up and out of her mouth. " _You did not just mock Harry Potter_."

"He had a wealth of resources at his fingertips - "

"He didn't want any others to die!"

" - yet he chooses the one option that involves self-destruction - "

"He was destroying pieces of Voldemort's soul, you useless - "

" - that could possibly result in martyrdom - "

"He had a piece of Tom Riddle's soul in him!" Laura says, getting up. "He needed to die so that Voldemort's death could be possible!"

Carmilla raises an eyebrow.

"And he couldn't have gotten rid of that piece, by I don't know, jumping off of a building before finishing Voldemort?"

"He didn't know!"

"I'm only saying, if they'd just invested a bit of their time into bringing Hermione to a wizard library - "

" _Oh my god_ , Carmilla." Laura huffs, sitting back down.

" - then maybe Voldemort could have been ended even before Dobby died."

"You are a dork." Laura mutters, not entirely against the Hermione argument.

"At the risk of proving you correct, would you mind if I showed you something?"

 

* * *

 

 

Laura tries to haul herself out of the tunnel and towards the open air above, but her lack of upper body strength catches up to her.

"You okay, cupcake?" Carmilla asks, a hint of amusement present in her voice. When Laura doesn't answer, the vampire simply leans down, wraps an arm around her waist and lifts her up on to the roof. It happens so fast Laura doesn't have time to process exactly how close to her Carmilla had been.

"Super human strength. Nice."

Carmilla throws a lopsided grin her way before walking towards the edge of the roof. Once there, she sits down, her legs hanging over. Laura follows. She is surprised to find that her feet hang low enough to rest on the neon red lettering that proclaims Dean's Diner.

Well, close enough anyways, her toes skim the apostrophe.

From above, Laura can see Alexander Street for miles. The street lamps eventually merging together in her point of view.

"How far can you see?" She asks Carmilla, curious to see how much more superior her senses are.

"If I really look, I can see the woman walking with a limp at the intersection of Alexander and Briggs. With my glasses on, I might be able to spot Negovanlis Square."

Laura cranes her neck.

"We're on Alexander and Belle." She muses out loud. "Briggs is like twenty blocks away."

Carmilla doesn't respond and Laura fully digests everything she's said.

"You wear glasses?!" She smiles and turns towards her companion. "Can I see a picture?"

"I brought you out here to see the stars, not me in my glasses."

"Okay." Laura knocks her shoulder against Carmilla's, still grinning. "At least tell me first where the border line is?"

Carmilla points.

"It was drawn a very long time ago." She says. "So it doesn't follow the line of the streets. Where we are is the furthest point our territory extends." Laura follows the slim, pale finger win her eyes as her guide draws a line. "The simplest border is Alexander Street. Everything else on Alexander belongs to the wolves, but is considered fairly neutral ground. There are many parts that are considered neutral ground, of course. Bauman Avenue is one such street."

"So anything south of Alexander is yours?"

"Sadly, it's not quite as simple as that."

Laura sighs and positions herself onto her back, looking up at the sky. It is easy enough for her to accept that there is a territory line she does not know about, but the idea of having multiple boundaries makes her feel like the whole of Styria is just a giant jigsaw puzzle with supernatural creatures fighting over its pieces and she herself could be caught in between without even really knowing it.

"Why are we looking at stars again, Carmilla?"She asks after deciding that the borders are no longer something she wants to think about right now.

Carmilla mimics her positioning and Laura feels infinitely more comfortable once they are once again shoulder to shoulder.

"It's beautiful how little we matter." She says, her voice rough around the edges. "And it's comforting that that insignificance extends to our shortcomings."

"I'm going to fail my Lit class."

"But Orion's Belt will still be here the next night and the night after that."

Laura lets the vampire's words simmer in her brain for a few minutes, her eyes roaming the night sky all the while. Carmilla reaches over and pats her thigh in a comforting manner.

"Thanks Carm." Laura swears she can physically feel her heart warming and swelling with affection for this _beautiful_ , _beautiful_ girl. "I feel a lot better about my paper."

"Glad to hear it, cupcake."


	4. Moving On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura is over this crush on Carmilla. No, really, she is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has commented, bookmarked, and left kudos so far! I'm so glad to be part of such a supportive fandom!
> 
> CHRISTMAS SPECIAL THOUGH  
> AND THAT PILLOW TALK  
> IS ANYONE ELSE HAVING TROUBLE BREATHING TODAY?

Laura drops by the diner on weekday nights whenever she can. She insists on staying the night with Carmilla even then, but the vampire's look of exasperation sends her back to Silas.

"You go to school, cupcake." Carmilla always says. "You can't just not sleep every night."

"You do it." Laura points out.

" _I'm nocturnal_."

Laura gives her that.

 

* * *

 

Carmilla has no reason to send her away on Saturdays.

A part of Laura is thrilled about their burgeoning friendship while another weeps at the fact that their closeness has little to no effect on Carmilla, establishing the fact that the vampire clearly does not feel the same attraction that Laura feels towards her.

When Carmilla brushes hair from Laura's eyes, which she has gotten into the habit of doing _my god_ , Laura's face blooms into a hundred shades of red. When Laura kisses Carmilla's nose as goodbye on Sunday mornings, she has no clue how that started or how she's getting away with doing it and prefers not to look a gift horse in the mouth, she is met with the same stony faced expression as is present on Carmilla's features about ninety-seven percent of the time.

Laura tells herself that friendship is enough, it really is. It's been a privilege for he to get to know Carmilla as much as she now does and the vampire clearly cares for her in her own Carmilla way, the idea of which makes Laura's heart beat double time.

So she pushes the crush down and buries it as far below the surface as she can.

 

* * *

 

Laura goes to the diner one Thursday night to drop off some cans of grape soda for Carmilla.

"Thanks, cupcake." She says when Laura hands her the soda. 

Laura smiles in return.

"I don't work this Saturday." Carmilla says, popping a can open.

"Are you saying we can hang out outside of this diner?"

Carmilla rolls her eyes.

"I'm saying we can do whatever you want to do."

  
_I want to kiss you until you forget your own name_.

 

"So what will it be, cupcake? Study session?" Carmilla jokes.

Laura lets her mind wander and imagine how it would feel to have her hands in Carmilla's hair, how the soft skin of the vampire's jaw would feel in between her teeth. And how Carmilla would breathe _Laura_ out in between kisses and - 

"Either you're having a vision or a heart attack." Carmilla drawls, snapping her fingers in front of Laura's quickly reddening face. "I can't tell which one."

"I'll text you." Laura finally gets out from between gritted teeth. "I've got to meet my Lit TA in five minutes or something like that so I'll text you or you can text me, okay?"

"I'd like that." Carmilla says and Laura leans up against the counter to press a soft kiss against her nose as a goodbye.

She needs to stop thinking about Carmilla right this moment.

 

* * *

 

Danny Lawrence is sweet, affectionate, and everything Laura should want in a girl.

Too bad she wants a girl in leather pants.

"How's Kafka coming along?" Danny asks, directing a sweet smile at her and Laura can't help but return it despite the broody mood Carmilla's stupidly attractive face has put her in.

They are at the oft recommended 24-hour vegan place. Danny has her book bag out on the table, going over the last reading excercise assignment.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually." Laura folds her hands together in her lap. "I'm having a bit of trouble with it, and was wondering if I could get an extension for my next reading excercise?"

"Of course." Danny continues like she didn't just save Laura's life. "It's a bit more difficult than the usual stuff. If you want I can help you a little bit? I have some time right now."

"I need it." Laura says. "I am not cut out for this."

"Hey, we all have our struggles. You'll be back on your feet in no time."

Laura is beyond grateful for the encouragement and she develops a bit of a crush on Danny's willingness to help and teach.

"You busy this Sunday, Hollis?" Danny asks after Laura thanks her a thousand times for her kindness.

"Not that I know of, why?"

"The Summer Society is having a barbecue off campus. It's at Hall Park which is just a few blocks down from that club on Chartrand?"

"Yeah," Laura finds herself saying. "Yeah, that'd be fun."

"It'll be really cool if you can come out. Bring your friends if you can. The more people the better, you know?"

"I'll try make it." Laura says, fumbling with her scarf. "Thanks again, Danny."

Danny clears her throat. There is a look of calculation on her face and her tongue peeks out from between her teeth.

"And if you can't make that, maybe Monday, after class? Coffee?"

Laura's heart thuds in her chest. She smiles.

"Of course."

Danny smiles back before making Laura promise to text her as soon as she is safely in her dorm.

It's a sweet gesture and it makes Laura smile the whole way home.

Danny is, well, nice. And Laura is woman enough to admit that Carmilla clearly does not see her as anything more than a friend and even she knows she deserves better than that. So what would be the harm in letting herself have some fun with Danny to see how things go? 


	5. Over It, Maybe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cuddles. That's all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still cannot wrap my head around the fact that there are so many of you who have expressed liking for this story. Thank you very much.

"Carmilla." Laura hisses as her helmet connects with the back of Carmilla's shoulder. "Slow down!"

"Sorry, cutie. Bump in the road." Carmilla's voice floats through the wind, her amusement evident.

Laura had been surprised to find a text from Carmilla when she woke up Saturday morning. The vampire had not bothered with pleasantries or small talk, opting instead to send a time _noon_ and an instruction _dress warmly_. So Laura had thrown on her warmest pair of sweatpants paired with a warm knit sweater and woolly socks inside of her Toms. Carmilla's face had slowly twisted into a grin at the sight of her.

"You said warm." Laura had huffed as Carmilla had stepped away from the bike she was leaning on. She slipped off her jacket and handed it to Laura. Confused, it took Laura a moment to realize she was to put it on, when she finally got the hint, though, warmth blossomed in her chest at the thought of Carmilla's smell engulfing her.

Carmilla motioned for her to come closer and when Laura did, the vampire fitted a helmet over her head.

"I did." She had answered, fiddling with Laura's chin strap. "But perhaps we should collaborate on a joint definition of warm next time, sweetheart."

Carmilla then straddles the bike and Laura becomes extremely grateful for the helmet obscuring her face because she might have decided to move on and start crushing on her sweet TA instead of the broody vampire as of two days ago, but _Carmilla's legs_.

"Wait." Laura had said, eying Carmilla's open plaid shirt and, save for a toque, her otherwise bare head. "Where's your warmth and helmet?"

"Vampire, cupcake."

"Of course." Laura had mumbled before getting in behind her.

 

* * *

 

They take the smaller roads.

Laura enjoys the sensation of zipping past lines and lines of pine trees, and then, when they turn into Bauman Avenue, the little townhouses and community parks. Carmilla steers the bike into an underground parkade across the street from Negovanlis Square a few moments later.

"Do you live here?" Laura asks, and her voice echoes off of the walls and the volume of it startles Carmilla, Laura can tell because she raises a hand from the handlebars and flicks Laura's helmet with her fingers.

"Were you asking me or the inhabitants of Australia?"

"Don't be mean, Carm."

She gets no reply. Instead, Carmilla disembarks from the motorcycle and stands off to the side until Laura herself has manged to get off the vehicle. Carmilla then starts to assist her with the helmet.

"I am perfectly capable - "

"I know that, sweetie." Carmilla reassures her, slipping the helmet off of her head. "I just want to save time."

They take the stairs from the parkade all the way up to Carmilla's apartment on the third floor, Carmilla maintaining a steady pace throughout the climb, and when they reach the door Carmilla slips a hand into the inside chest pocket of the jacket that Laura is still wearing.

Laura sincerely hopes that Carmilla can not hear her heartbeat because _dear god the feeling of the backs of those knuckles against her ribs_.

_Danny who?_

 

* * *

 

 

The key the vampire retrieved from the pocket of the jacket turns out to be the apartment key, o _f course Laura duh get it together_ , and she opens the door, steps back and then allows Laura to enter before her.

The apartment is undeniably Carmilla.

There are piles of books everywhere, as if Carmilla picks them up at random and accidentally leaves them lying around, occasionally tidying by piling some of them on top of each other. The curtains are black, effectively blocking out daylight and it seemed every surface had its own collection of candles. And did it ever reek of Carmilla.

"I love it." Laura says without thinking. "We should hang out here more often."

"You are standing on the welcome mat." Carmilla points out.

"Doesn't mean I don't already love it here."

Laura takes her shoes off while Carmilla stomps through the place in her combat boots.

"I want a tour." Laura decides, hanging up Carmilla's jacket.

"Cupcake." The vampire drawls in complaint.

"Now, Carm."

 

* * *

 

Somehow they end up sprawled against each other in Carmilla's double.

Laura, as she is prone to doing, does not question how or what higher power has allowed her to get into this position but instead wills herself to see this as friendly, platonic cuddling instead of cuddling that may lead to something more. She'll see Danny tomorrow, she reminds herself, Danny who smiles at her like she's precious.

"Carm, are you sleeping? It's one in the afternoon."

"I'm nocturnal." Carmilla mutters and Laura snuggles deeper into her. She smells like candles and evergreen leaves and Laura wants to hold her until she forgets about the years she spent underground.

Laura's heart quickens when the vampire's arm comes to rest around her. Carmilla, whose forehead is resting against her sternum, startles slightly.

"Your heart just skipped a beat." She says. "Are you alright?"

_Holy shit_.

"Just thinking."

"Don't hurt yourself." She can practically hear the smirk in Carmilla's voice.

Laura sighs and thinks of how much easier life is when she's with Danny who does not feel the need to insult her repeatedly.

As if she can read minds, Carmilla chooses this moment to sit up.

"Laura." She says. "I was joking. I do not actually think that you are incapable of brain activity. The complete opposite, in fact I know - "

"It's nothing." Laura waves it off. "Lay back down."

Carmilla does.

"So what are you thinking about?"

"My Lit TA." She replies. She technically was, so it isn't a lie.

"Why?"

"I might have a bit of a crush on her? Maybe?"

"Oh. That's good, maybe."

Laura has sudden bout of wild courage and inspiration. This is what friends do, right? Sleep over?

"Yeah, it is. Can I stay the night?"

 

* * *

 

They spend the rest of the afternoon and evening eating cookies and watching DVDs on a TV that Carmilla says came with the place.

Laura believes her because she looks at the remote control like one would a particularly difficult math equation.

Carmilla is not opposed to Hitchhock or John Woo, Laura finds. But she is rather partial to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, which they finish a little after midnight.

"Time for bed, maybe?" Carmilla suggests after Laura yawns so widely that she can feel her face stretch.

"Yeah." Laura mumbles against her palm. "Can I borrow a t-shirt?"

They head to the bedroom, Laura leading the way, her bare feet making light sounds against the wood floors. The vampire follows in behind her. Every now and then she hears the friction of Carmilla's socks against the wood as if the other girl was letting herself slide like a very cute, very adorable child. The thought makes Laura smile.

She sits herself on the bed while Carmilla rummages silently in her drawers. After a few moments, Carmilla hands her a Beatles shirt which Laura can immediately tell will be comfortable.

She doesn't return it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is plot coming, I swear! I just really wanted to see them this comfortable around one another. Also, I am new to the tumblr game: thatssocee.tumblr.com. Come say hi!


	6. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura does a lot of smiling and then borders are crossed and wars will be fought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot has arrived, kind of.

 

Laura wakes up on Sunday morning to find Carmilla using her abdomen as a pillow. She smiles to herself, and goes back to sleep.

 

* * *

 

It's still clearly morning when Laura wakes up for good.

Carmilla has migrated from halfway on top of her to curled up against the far side of the bed, as far away as she could possibly get. Laura is comfortable and wants to go back to sleep but she knows she agreed to go to the Summer Society barbecue this afternoon and getting back to her dorm is the first step of that plan materializing. She debates even waking Carmilla up for a goodbye, but decides it can't hurt to try.

"Carm." Laura breathes out, testing the waters.

Carmilla gives a non committal grunt.

"I'm gonna go back to campus, Carm."

"How?"

"I'll take the bus." Laura smiles and rolls her friend over by pulling on the belt loop of her jeans. "You go back to sleep."

She leans down and kisses the tip of Carmilla's nose.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'll take you back." The vampire says, sleep still very much embedded in her voice. Laura smiles again when she sees her eyes are still closed.

"You don't have to - "

"I work today anyways."

"I really don't mind - "

"Laura." Carmilla sighs like she's dreaming or exasperated or maybe both.

"Okay."

 

* * *

 

LaFontaine comments on her obvious absence the night before with a shit eating grin.

"And whose shirt would that be?" They ask, grinning wider and wider. "It's a concert tee from over twenty years ago. Who do we know that's immortal and doesn't live in this building?"

"LaF." Laura rolls her eyes, jamming her key into the door of her dorm room. "Not right now."

"Hey, I mean I want to congratulate you. You finally girled the hell up and got on that." LaF stops and seems to be considering their words. "But I gotta warn you, Laur, she's developed a reputation for, well, sleeping around."

"No. I really didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we hung out and we might be friends now, but I have moved on from crushing on her." Laura sets her sweater down on her bed before checking to see if her desk plant is still alive. "I am a grown woman who scoffs at the thought of pining, do you hear me? I do not pine."

LaF's grin widens.

"Oh for the love of god." Laura collapses back onto her bed. "I'm a mess."

She is grateful for LaFontaine's understanding silence.

"You're still coming to the barbecue, right?" She asks them, her arm still over her eyes.

"Can I bring Perry?"

"Bring anyone you want." Laura mutters.

 

* * *

 

Laura has seen the Floor Don before, in fact she has seen her about the whole Betty participating-in-activities-with-other-parties-in-their-dorm-room situation about five times and each time, Perry just stresses the value of communication.

"Hello, Laura." Perry says cheerfully when she and LaFontaine meet Laura at the door of their building.

"Hi." Laura smiles and steps outside. "I'm glad you guys are coming with me."

"I love barbecues." Perry says. "I hope they have vegetables."

Her and LaF discuss what may or may not be served at barbecues the whole way down to the park while Laura wonders why she has never felt so drained in her life.

 

* * *

 

Danny welcomes them with open arms.

Laura marvels at how extremely natural she looks in her own element. Her striped tank top and capris compliment her athletic build and her hair, twisted into a braid, seemed brighter, healthier out in Hall Park than it ever does in English Lit lectures or the tutorials she runs.

"You should all grab something to eat." Danny says, motioning for the three of them to follow her. "We've a lot of different dishes today. Vegetarian options too, for those who prefer it..."

Laura finds herself being introduced to several of Danny's Summer Society sisters. All of whom, strangely enough, look familiar, before she is thrust into participating in a volleyball game with said sisters and their guests.

She has never been a good volleyball player because of her extreme lack of coordination and the fact that she is vertically challenged, but her teammates never comment on plays that she misses, opting instead to emphasize the things that she does do well. They treat her, and all of the other guests, like they're part of the sisterhood and Laura _loves_ it.

The other members of the Summer Society put her at ease to the point where she is able to push her broody vampire crush to the back of her mind. It's amazing.

It is only a few hours later, when Laura is laughing and grabbing a drink from the refreshment table that the fun stops.

Standing at the edge of the park is a man with mud-soaked, bloody Converse.

 

* * *

 

It all happens so fast, Laura isn't even sure it's really happening.

One moment the man, the vampire she recognizes because of his shoes from that memorable night at the diner almost two months ago, is standing on the lip of the sidewalk. The next, he is running down Belle Street, a pack of large dogs at his heels.

Werewolves. But how - 

Perry and LaFontaine are suddenly grabbing her shirt, hauling her away from the direction of the conflict.

"What the - "

"Danny said to go, Laura." Perry shrills into her ear.

And sure enough, Danny is telling all the guests to go as far into the northern city limits as they can. Laura just manages to catch her eye, full of apology and what Laura recognizes as her I'm-sorry-I-didn't-tell-you-sooner-about-this-quiz look before her body starts to shift.

It seems to start at the centre of her chest before spreading down her arms and legs. Laura is vaguely aware that both Perry and LaFontaine have handfuls of her shirt now and are trying to haul her away from what's happening, but she can't take her eyes off of Danny's changing body.

Soon enough, Danny's eyes are her only recognizable feature. She is a massive wolf, her legs elegant and her coat of fur magnificent. She moves her sorrowful eyes away from Laura after a moment and turns to follow her sisters in the chase up Belle Avenue.

Laura can tell easily enough that the vampire is headed to Alexander Street. Back to the safety of the border. To the diner.

To Carmilla.

In her mind's eye, she can see the vampire's smirk and Danny's grin while offering her help with English Lit and the time Carmilla flashed her blood-coated teeth in a smile and the wolf's eyes, so big and so _so_ sorry.

_I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner_.

Danny in danger, Carmilla in danger. All because of some stupid line that was drawn a shit ton of time ago.

Laura runs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, everybody! Happy Holidays!


	7. Battle Plans and Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a supernatural showdown in Styria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again for reading and leaving kudos and commenting and bookmarking this story! If you ever want to talk about this fic, just send me an ask on tumblr!

Laura runs as fast as she can towards Alexander Street, her lungs burning and her legs aching. When she gets there, she is met with carnage and the unmistakable smell of burning. There is no traffic on Alexander, which Laura notices, but can't quite bring herself to care about because Carmilla is among these bloody fighters. She scans the crowd, but has no luck locating her friend until a collection of rubble is sent her way by the swipe of a wolf’s claw.

Laura finds her a split second after a red and blue visor just misses her head by inches.

Carmilla is locked in combat with three wolves, none of them, thankfully, being Danny when Laura sees her eyes flash over to her. And then the next thing she knows, Carmilla has torn a wolf practically in half, snatched Laura up, and is depositing her on the roof of the diner.

"What are you - of all the stupid, imbecilic - " Carmilla runs bloodstained hands over her hair. "I - why would you - "

"I was trying to make sure you were still alive!"

"You could have gotten eaten." She groans. "Oh god, you could have gotten eaten."

"But I wasn't." Laura reasons.

An agonized scream cuts into the air and she ducks, completely by instinct, afraid for the life of the screamer and confused about the events rapidly occurring.

"What the hell is going on?" Laura demands.

"My brother decided to cross boundaries." Carmilla says, peering at the events happening below them. "And whether I like it or not, he is my brother - "

"Go." Laura sighs.

"I have a plan." Carmilla says instead of moving.

"And what's that?"

"Whatever you're thinking about doing in that brilliant mind of yours, stop it right now before I get queasy."

Laura rolls her eyes.

"Okay, whatever, just tell me what I need to do."

"That was it." Carmilla wipes her hand on the uniform she is still wearing before grabbing Laura's forearm. "Do whatever the fuck you want to do on this roof, but do not go down there and get eaten."

"No! That's - the - I can - Danny would totally listen to me - we just have to tell them that it's not you they want, but your brother!"

"I am a monster they've been fighting for _decades_ , they want my head too." Carmilla tucks a piece of hair behind Laura's ears and Laura can't help but lean into the touch. "I understand you wanting to know what's going on, you're in Journalism, of course you want to see what'll happen, but please do not involve yourself."

"Carm - " Laura is embarrassed to say she's basically whining.

"Laura." Carmilla's eyes are so very dark and Laura forgets to breathe. "Under no circumstances are you permitted to leave this roof, you understand?"

Laura nods and then wills herself to stay still as Carmilla physically teeters on her feet. It only takes a moment more before the vampire closes the space between them and presses her lips against the tip of Laura's nose.

"Stay here." Carmilla murmurs, still very very close.

"Sure." Laura squeaks.

And then she stays still long enough to watch her vampire go off to fight. Laura can still feel lips against her skin as she busies herself by searching for the ladder that leads off of the roof she just promised to stay on.

She's never dealt well with being told she isn't _permitted_ to do something.

 

* * *

 

Laura gets to the front door of the diner just in time to dodge it as it opens. The vampire in Converse is covered in blood and dragging what looks to be a wolf carcass behind him. He is too busy to notice Laura and the sight is so horrifying that Laura doesn't hesitate to run out into the carnage.

She can stop all of this. She just has to tell Danny that Carmilla really is a good vampire and that the one they want is the one inside. And then no one will be hurt. That's all she has to do.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, there is a loud growl that shakes the ground and the wolves slowly back away from the fight.

Laura runs to Carmilla's side, her fingers shaking at the sight of her friend's split lip and bloody legs that peek through the diner uniform she is still wearing.

"They're back over to their territory!" Laura can hear Danny yelling. "Everyone back off!"

"I told you - " Carmilla starts.

"I know."

"There was a plan, you didn't follow the plan - "

"And how's that plan of yours working out for you?" Laura drapes Carmilla's arm over her own shoulder and starts walking towards what she recognizes to be the vampire's motorcycle. "God - _goddamnit_ , Carmilla. Lean on me."

Laura is vaguely aware of Danny's eyes on the back of her head as she helps Carmilla walk and she knows that that coffee date is now so far out of the question that she may as well forget about it.

 

* * *

 

Laura manages not to kill them as she drives the bike to Carmilla's, with the vampire muttering weak instructions behind her all the way, it would have taken a tornado for Laura to crash the bike, but still, it was only the third time she had ever driven a motorcycle.

She parks the bike in the same spot Carmilla did only a little more than twenty four hours ago and tries to haul the vampire into the elevator.

"No." Carmilla says, leaning away from Laura and towards the stairs. "Stairs."

"Carmilla." Laura tries.

"I'm not very good at confined spaces, cutie." Carmilla says breathily. "Coffin - "

Laura feels like she's going to puke at her own stupidity.

"I'm sorry." She offers, wincing. "Okay, so stairs."

They take the stairs slowly. Laura, despite Carmilla's many injuries, is still hyper aware of the vampire pressed against her side. She still smells like Carmilla did last night, a mix of evergreens and candles and something, Laura realizes now, she can't quite place.

When they finally make it up to Carmilla's apartment, Laura reaches around the vampire's back to check if the key is in the pocket of the blood stained apron still, miraculously enough, secured around her waist.

"Where's the key?"

"Back pocket." Carmilla mutters. "Of my skirt. Back right pocket."

Laura tries not to focus on the fact that her hand is going to be touching Carmilla somewhere she has never touched her before, fails, and almost loses her own balance.

"I can stand on my own, cutie." Carmilla offers weakly, after Laura has to shift her weight.

"Don't be stupid." She replies through gritted teeth, key now safely clutched in one hand. "Now let's get you all cleaned up."

 

* * *

 

 

It takes more than an hour before Carmilla's skin is free of blood. Laura helps her get into bed, watches her wince for the thousandth time that day and carefully lets out the thought she's been holding in.

"Can I take you to a hospital?"

"No." Carmilla says, closing her eyes. "I'll be poked and prodded."

"LaFontaine is a bio major, what about - "

" _Cupcake_."

"They're your co-worker, Carm. You know them, they'll be no harm." Laura means to walk away from Carmilla's bed to get her cellphone when slim fingers grab at her wrist.

"Laura." Carmilla croaks. "Just please leave it alone. I can heal faster than it would take them to get here."

"I can't just not do anything."

Carmilla opens her eyes then and smiles slightly. She lifts up a corner of her blanket.

"Come keep me warm, then."


	8. Discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura asks some questions and is given some pertinent information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've said this before, but I am truly overwhelmed by the response this story's been getting. Thank you all for taking the time to read!

Laura decides the moment she wakes up that trying to move on from a hopeless crush or not, waking up with Carmilla curled against her is something she will never complain about.

There are bruises on the vampire's pale skin and Laura can practically feel the exhaustion still radiating off of Carmilla, so she doesn't move, lets her rest against her instead.

All Laura can think is she looks so young and so fragile. She wants to hold Carmilla until all this unrest is over. As absurd as it might sound, she has an intense urge to _protect_ Carmilla.

It's insane, she thinks, that she is already so attached after only a few months of closeness, but here she is with a heart beating as fast as the kick drum in the chorus of a Metallica song, crushing on a stupid vampire who is either not picking up her hints or is just choosing to not pick them up.

So Laura tightens her grip on the other girl and and pulls her closer to her chest.

 

* * *

 

Laura is fighting her way through a French version of an Albert Camus novel when she notices that Carmilla's awake.

"Are you feeling better?" She asks as Carmilla turns her back, distancing herself. Laura mentally kicks herself for missing her warmth almost immediately.

"Peachy."

The pout that is so evident in her voice makes Laura laugh. The way Carmilla wraps her arms around herself, though, makes her throat hurt. She reaches over and drops Faulkner on the bedside table before turning her attention back to the vampire.

Laura wants to hold her not only because she looks like she needs it but also because Laura herself needs it.

"Hey." She says, her heart caught in her throat,  _they're friends and friends do this she needs to calm down_ , aiming for her words to come out cheerful and unaffected. "Hey, come back here."

Carmilla does. She rolls back over, fitting herself into Laura's waiting arms.

"I'm glad we're friends." Laura says, practically wheezing because her throat is so constricted from repressing what she actually wants to say.

"I'm very confused as to why you're saying this in this moment."

"Am I not allowed to be glad about it?"

"No, you are." Carmilla shuffles closer, if that's even possible. "I'm sure as hell glad about it, it's just not a typical kind of moment for such sentiments."

Laura laughs.

"You are wrapped around me in your double bed at six in the morning, when will there ever be a better time for my sentiment?"

She takes Carmilla's silence as a sign that she's won this round.

 

* * *

 

Laura is kind of scared?

Like not deathly afraid of Carmilla or anything, but maybe a bit wary of her? The girl ripped a wolf in half right in front of her eyes after all and she's centuries old and intimidating, Laura probably should have been scared from the very beginning.

She realizes this just as Carmilla comes back from her first solo trip to the washroom since the fight. And Laura wonders briefly if she should voice her concerns to her friend.

"Why does your brother keep crossing lines?" She asks instead and the question takes Carmilla a bit off guard.

"My mother is unhappy with the current border." Carmilla says, wincing as she tries to climb back into bed, Laura wants to reach out to help, but knows the vampire wants to do this on her own. "I've had many arguments with her about her decision to give me three more siblings in the past year, I guess her plans are finally materializing."

"I'm sorry, he was trying to start a war?"

Carmilla laughs, but the sound is so dark that Laura doesn't even want to consider it a laugh.

"When mother wants to start the war, you'll know."

 

* * *

  

"Do you love her?" Laura thinks out loud.

"My mother?"

"Yes."

"Purely out of obligation."

She doesn't know what that means so she stops talking.

"I don't like what she's planning to do, but I am helpless in stopping it." Carmilla adds.

"She wants territory for feeding ground, does it not benefit you as well?"

"I am the reason Styria always needs to hold blood drives. That's where I get most of my food."

Laura thinks of Carmilla forced to participate in a war against her beliefs and shudders.

 

* * *

 

She finally feels comfortable leaving Carmilla on her own after a few more hours.

If she is being honest, Laura can admit that she'd been wanting to leave as soon as she knew her friend would be okay. The supernatural has always made her feel uneasy, the fact that the need to see Carmilla be okay won out over her gut reaction made her flinch upon realization.

She might be in deeper than she ever thought.

Nevertheless, she tries to ignore the thought as she walks down the biology wing of Silas. She had asked Perry for LaFontaine and the Floor Don, who was excessively baking for whatever reason, had pointed her in this direction. Laura peeks through the windows of each room as she walks by in order to not miss them so it takes her almost ten minutes to get to, of course, the last lab where LaF is eating brownies and staring at their computer screen.

Laura knocks.

"Hey L." LaF says, smiling a little. They have a small scratch on their cheek. "Heard you ran into the middle of things there. Not exactly what I would do, but you've always been kind of intense."

Laura takes it as a cue to walk in and make herself comfortable.

"It was probably not the best idea." She admits.

"It's pretty cool you got to see it all happen. Perry and I were standing right next to that girl from the Summer Society with purple hair as she turned, but I couldn't get a good look at how exactly it all worked."

"I had a question about that, actually." Laura clears her throat. "I see that werewolves are real, but, like how do they even exist?"

"I've looked it up." LaFontaine answers instantly. "Their origin can be traced all the way back to an explosion of some pit about a thousand years ago. It's strange because it seems to be genetic which is interesting because that means whatever exploded altered their DNA."

"That's not weird."

"Not at all." They agree. "Carmilla and her minion siblings are all undead, though, so at least the stories have that right."

"She said that her mother might want to start a war over land." Laura finds herself saying. "It seems like that could get crazy real quick. Wait a second, do you still work at the diner even after all this?"

"I work in the day time." LaF shrugs. "Want a brownie?"

"No thank you, I'm not saying I don't like your brownies because I do, I love them. It's just that I usually eat them with Carmilla and the two of us - "

"Laura, if you need a therapy session, just say so."

The words catch her off guard and she freezes, her stomach churning.

"A therapy session?"

"Yeah, I mean it's obvious you're not taking this too well. Your girlfriend is a supernatural creature who might go off to war. Like really, frosh, you can talk to me all about it."

"O-okay." Laura breathes in sharply through her nose. "Carmilla's not my girlfriend, though. She's just a friend whose safety I'm worried about."

"I could have been talking about Danny." LaF pops another brownie into their mouth. "But the fact that you chose to apply that to the bloodsucker should tell you something."

"I'm here for _scientific reasons_." Laura feels the need to point out. "I want to know if you've found anything that could help stop this from happening?"

"Well if you really are, then I suppose I should tell you that this whole war thing likely won't end well."

"What do you mean?"

"I got into the student database. Two hundred people have gone missing from Silas over the past hundred years." LaF grimaces. "One of them, William Eisen over here, went missing in 1908, but is enrolled in three classes this semester."

LaFonatine turns her laptop around for Laura to look at the picture.

"Recognize him?"

"That's the man in the park."

"Uh-huh. Fifty others who went missing over the last century have turned up at Silas again."

"Carmilla's mother is building an army." Laura feels her mouth go dry. "Holy crap, this could seriously put everyone in Silas in danger, we have to - "

"Tell someone?" LaF grins. "I was hoping you'd come see me, truly, because the Dean's advisors are meeting in, oh, about an hour and a half. And guess who's going to present this information to the Dean?"

It takes Laura's brain a moment to catch up.

"Me and you?"

"Me and you."


	9. Departures, Arrivals, and Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura has to deal with someone leaving and another taking their place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I spend New Year's writng, does that mean I'll spend the entirety of 2015 the same way? I sure hope so.

The night does not go as planned.

They don't manage to even _get in_ to the meeting. Instead, the books in the waiting area of the Dean's office sensed their unwanted presence as soon as the two of them walked in dressed as a young professor and a research assistant and Laura now has a massive black eye, which she will have to explain to her father.

"What on Earth made the two of you think this was a good idea?" Perry asks, fiddling with the blanket she has wrapped around LaFontaine. Laura is nursing a cup of cocoa courtesy of her.

Perry gets incredibly domestic in the face of crisis, which comforts Laura more than she can imagine anything else being able to.

"Vampires, Perr." LaFontaine closes their eyes as Perry holds an ice pack against their neck. "Vampires are building an army."

"Don't be ridiculous." Perry laughs lightly. "Vampires don't exist."

"And Hall Park was just all of a sudden overrun by a bunch of mutant dogs last night? This is happening. And we need to do something about it."

Laura looks away from the two when their eye contact gets too intense and is thankful for when Betty opens the door after what feels like ten years later.

"Are you guys, like, alright?" Betty asks, dropping her keys on the counter. She alternates looking between all three of them in concern, but there is an undercurrent of happiness on her face.

"Fine." Laura says. "We just took a spill while riding a motorcycle. What's up with you?"

Betty smiles so brightly Laura is afraid her face is going to split.

"My transfer just went through!"

Laura wracks her mind in an attempt to find something to say. Her roommate has mentioned a transfer being a possibility before, she distinctly remembers coming home one Sunday morning and Betty, still half naked, joking that Laura won't have to deal with her for much longer.

"Princeton!" Laura finally manages to remember where Betty is heading. "Oh my god, Betts, I'm so happy for you!"

Betty leans down to give her a hug and Laura tries to make conversation as best as she can while LaFontaine and Perry bicker quietly amongst themselves.

At least one of them won't be affected by a vampire army.

 

* * *

 

The week goes by painfully quick. Betty fills the spaces of conversation that Laura should be occupying with excited chatter, for which Laura is thankful. The university has informed her that she will be getting a new roommate after Betty leaves on Saturday. It remains a mystery, even to Perry, whom it will be.

"She can't be half as bad as me." Betty laughs, throwing clothes out of the wardrobe and into the suitcase on her bed. "What, I made you sleep at a diner half the time? You probably won't have so much back pain had I not been around."

Laura laughs too, despite her gut aching at the idea of not having had Betty as a roommate, which would have meant no diner nights with Carmilla, and no Carmilla.

"You weren't half bad." She says truthfully.

"Thanks for saying that, Laur." Betty walks over and gives her a hug. "Keep in touch, yeah?"

Laura nods and is surprised to find she is being totally honest when she says,

"I'd like that."

 

* * *

 

Laura doesn't go to the diner that Saturday.

Maybe it's stupid, but she would rather not face Carmilla while the image of the vampire splitting a giant wolf apart with her bare hands is still stuck in Laura's mind. Instead, she spends the better part of her day, after bidding Betty goodbye and helping her into a cab headed for the airport, sitting in her room re-watching the first season of One Tree Hill.

LaF walks in several times, without knocking to check on her and her black eye, Perry allows herself in multiple times to borrow and return the bleach Laura keeps under the bathroom sink. The twentieth time her door opens that night, Laura does not even bother turning away from the computer.

"Um, excuse me, but who the hell are you?" She asks, watching a scene between Lucas and his mother.

"Carmilla." Laura turns around so fast she's afraid she may have given herself whiplash. "I'm your new roommate sweetheart."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I hope you all stay safe tonight and tomorrow while you're ringing in the New Year!


	10. A New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura learns to live with Carmilla.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates are going to be a little less frequent than they have been now that I'm back to school :( Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to stick with it!

Carmilla is the worst roommate on the planet.

She is prone to leaving all of her belongings lying around and has the ability to disappear as soon as Laura starts talking about the mess in the bathroom or whenever Perry and LaFontaine come over for a chat. She sprawls out on whichever bed she feels most comfortable in while reading, sometimes Laura's, sometimes her own and steals Laura's yellow pillow on a regular basis.

She also likes to play her bass guitar at strange hours in the night which wakes Laura up sometimes, but the complete look of peace on the vampire's face during those moments stops Laura from opening her mouth to berate her for the noise.

Suffice to say, the first few weeks of living with her drives Laura crazy.

 

* * *

 

It is only their third day living together when Laura asks the important question.

"Why are you here?"

"It's one half my room, too, cutie." Carmilla responds without missing a beat.

"No I mean here, at Silas. Why are you here? You have a perfectly good apartment in the city."

"Maybe I liked having you around so much that I found a way to get into the school."

Laura rolls her eyes.

"Does this usually work for you?"

"I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for my mother's orders." Carmilla turns a page. "She likes to get her way."

"You're living with me purely out of obligation then?"

She doesn't get a response.

 

* * *

 

There are still upsides to their living arrangements, however. Carmilla comes home one night with a paste to help get rid of Laura's black eye, which she scoffs at after Laura tells her how it was acquired. And Laura has never known anyone who is as adamant about keeping up with laundry as Carmilla is. Laura's barely taken something off before it's whisked off in a laundry basket down the hall, headed for the wash.

Of course, it's Laura who has to hang and fold all their articles of clothing, as Carmilla's laundry superpowers don't extend past her bringing the basket back to their room and dumping its contents out on Laura's bed.

But hanging clothes while procrastinating on her work gives Laura something to do and she finds that she really does not mind.

Carmilla is also good at making sure Laura has enough snacks to last her through the assignments she has to do and there's always grape soda in the fridge right beside the vampire's container of "soy milk".

All in all, Laura guesses it could be worse.

 

* * *

 

The first time it happens, it's because Laura's Lit Study Session, which does not include any sort of interaction with Danny anymore, runs over time by oh, about _three hours_.

Carmilla is sprawled out on her own bed, book held up above her face, one arm hanging off the mattress, when Laura finishes her shower. She doesn't show any signs of having noticed Laura had walked into the room at all. Laura debates breaking the silence with friendly chatter, but ultimately decides against it after remembering the state she found the bathroom in.

When she turns to her bed, however, she can no longer help herself.

"Carm!" She exclaims, staring at the massive pile of laundry. "What am I going to do with all these clothes?"

Carmilla shrugs, but continues to read.

"Seriously?" Laura picks up the Beatles shirt she had stolen almost a month ago now, turns away from Carmilla, and changes out of the original t-shirt she had put on after her shower. "I am dead on my feet. All I want to do is sleep."

"Then sleep."

Laura rolls her eyes.

"I can't." She wants to take Carmilla by the shoulders and shake her. "There are clothes all over my bed."

"Why is this my problem?"

Laura scoffs.

"Are you - seriously?" There's a smirk on Carmilla's face and Laura knows it. "I'm going to make it your problem, Carmilla."

And then Laura, clearly having lost the ability to think, shoves at the vampire's hip before climbing into the bed beside her.

"Still not your problem?" Laura finds it a bit difficult to stay angry when Carmilla scoots over to make room for her.

"Aren't you dead on your feet?" Carmilla looks as calm and unaffected as ever. "Don't you want to go to sleep?"

Laura huffs and turns away from her roommate. She can feel her heart thudding in her chest at their proximity.  
 _You're mad_ , Laura. _You're mad_.

"Try not to bury me in a mess you've created while I'm sleeping." She aims for angry, but it comes out halfway in between fond reprimand and joking.

"No promises, cupcake.

 

* * *

 

Laura wakes up the next morning with the clothes previously occupying her bed piled on top of her.

There's a small plate of brownies on the pillow next to her head along with a note that reads _i did say no promises_. Carmilla is nowhere to be found and the sunlight streaming through the window is clearly of the early morning variety.

She picks a sock out of her hair and laughs.


	11. Breaks and Broken Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura takes a break, comes back, and then tries to make sense of broken things.

It's a lot easier, after the first time they share a bed as roommates, to live with Carmilla.

Her habits don't change and neither do Laura's, but after their small disagreements, it's much easier to make up when Laura's nose is pressed against Carmilla's collarbone or when the vampire settles into her customary position, forehead against Laura's breastbone.

"I never thanked you." Laura feels, more than hears, Carmilla mutter one night after a particularly bad argument that involved Laura breaking a plate against the side of the sink. Her roommate had rushed to her side immediately - cutting off her own defense against Laura's allegations that the shower drain being clogged was her fault - after Laura had let loose a rare curse and Carmilla had even helped check her hand for damage.

"For what?" Laura is half asleep and her eyes are fully closed.

"You - helped me. After the incident with the wolves."

"I didn't want you to die, Mircalla." Laura teases, drawing her friend, her friend closer.

"I appreciated your efforts very much."

"I owe you a thank you as well. For not letting me get eaten that day, though I know you saving me was more to get me out of the way than actually for me - "

There is a flurry of movement and Laura's eyes jerk open to meet dark ones that hover just above her.

"Don't be stupid. _Of course_ I did it for you."

Her eyes are so soft and deep that Laura almost allows herself to think Carmilla wants her too.

Almost.

 

* * *

 

She notices that something is off with her roommate before she leaves for Winter Break. Carmilla has always kept weird hours, working at the diner at night and all, and Laura had just assumed that's where she always is.

Her assumptions prove incorrect when one of the girls on the floor, Sarah Jane, knocks on the door one night to apologize for having unknowingly kept Carmilla's diner uniform in her own pile of laundry for the last two weeks after accidentally acquiring it in a laundry mix-up.

Carmilla herself seems to become more weary as the nights drag by. Sometimes she looks like she's on her last drop of energy before collapsing into bed, Laura's more often than not, just as Laura's getting ready to go to class in the morning.

"Do you even go to class?" Laura asks her one day as she's grabbing a packet of cheese puffs from the counter and readying herself to leave their room.

"Have a nice day, cupcake." Is all she gets in response.

 

* * *

 

Carmilla had opted to stay at Silas, politely declining Laura's invitation to come to Switzerland with her and her father, in favor of spending the holiday with her "family".

"I have several new siblings that I have yet to bond with." She had drawled. "Sorry, cutie, but I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Laura had taken the rejection in stride. She had fun skiing and spending time with her Dad in Switzerland, at least after she got over the guilt of having ignored the majority of his communication over the course of the semester, and the two of them exchanged presents beside the massive fireplace of their hotel while drinking hot cocoa.

She gets back to campus a few hours before schedule, her Dad having insisted on driving her back all the way instead of dropping her off at the bus loop in Styria, so she has extra time to unpack and lay in her bed for a few hours if needed. The idea of extra time puts her in a good mood.

When she walks back into Room 307, however, her mood dissipates almost immediately.

 

* * *

 

"What the hell happened to you?"

Carmilla looks up from the glass of blood in her heavily bandaged hand and winces.

"Didn't think - know you'd be back." She mumbles almost inaudibly. Laura props her suitcase up against the dresser and, after a few hurried steps which, she notices, causes Carmilla to recoil, slows as she approaches the vampire.

Her shirt is stained with blood, her face streaked with dirt. Laura doesn't know what to think.

"Were you - " she begins, pauses, and then starts speaking in softer tones, accounting for Carmilla's reaction to the volume of her voice. "Was there a fight while I was away?"

"No." Carmilla mutters, and Laura realizes that there are scattered bruises along the column of the vampire's neck almost as if someone had tried to choke her to death. The marks disappear underneath Carmilla's shirt, where their territory widens considerably. Before she can ask about them, however, Laura's concentration on the bruises are interrupted by Carmilla coughing."I was - I'll be fine."

"Did somebody try to kill you?" When the vampire doesn't reply, Laura reaches over and unbuttons the top of the bloody shirt, gaping at the deep wound just above her roommate's heart. " _Oh my god_ , somebody did."

Silence.

"Tell me what happened."

"I'd love to. I'm just a bit preoccupied with my bleeding chest wound right now."

"Can I take you to a hospital?"

"No. I'm just going to need a bit of help moving, maybe."

Laura sighs inwardly and pulls Carmilla into an embrace. She shuts her eyes and tries not to imagine Carmilla on the ground somewhere, dying.

They stay that way for several minutes, Laura standing in front of the computer chair where Carmilla is sat, her arms around the vampire whose nose is at her sternum, and they do so quietly, save for Carmilla's erratic coughing.

"I'm going to clean you up." Laura decides after an indefinite period of time. She pulls away from Carmilla slightly. "And then you're going to tell me where it is you go at night and exactly what is happening."

Carmilla looks at her like she's about to protest, but Laura beats her to it.

"It's that or I'm dragging you to a hospital. You're in no position to resist right now."

"You drive a hard bargain, sugar." The vampire coughs and Laura winces at the sound.

"Yes you'll tell me everything?" She prompts, narrowing her eyes and hoping Carmilla agrees because she looks like she's been run over by a bus or two and that isn't really sitting well with Laura.

"Yes I'll tell you everything."

Laura nods and breathes a sigh of relief  before helping Carmilla up and leading her to the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short update for today, but the little plot train is chugging along and will continue to. Thank you for reading! Ideally, I can update Fridays and/or Mondays from here on out :)


	12. Realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Laura realizes a very big thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you like it!

When Carmilla finally falls asleep after a long clean up session, Laura goes to find Perry.

She tells the woman that Carmilla has taken a bad fall and does Perry _know how to take care of an injured wrist and a few minor cuts_?

The floor don shows her how to wrap a sprained wrist properly with a tensor bandage and even goes as far to demonstrate the technique on Laura's wrist. When Laura tries to give the bandage back, Perry just shakes her head.

"Is she okay?" Perry nods like she's willing Laura to answer with a nod. "Everything fine?"

"I think so."

"That's good." She points to the bandage in Laura's hand. "I have a lot of those. And some disinfectant too."

Laura thinks of the deep wound in Carmilla's chest and reaches for the disinfectant.

"She helped me, you know." Perry says just as Laura is about to leave. "Over break, she saw me carrying my broken refrigerator up the stairs and carried it for me while holding a basket of laundry in her other hand. I know it takes a lot to break her, Laura."

Laura stays silent, unsure of what Perry is saying.

"So if the only reason you're not asking me to help with her is because you think I'm going to be shocked by the damage, this is me telling you I will not be."

And that's how Perry ends up following Laura back to 307, first aid kit in hand.

 

* * *

 

Laura realizes she's in trouble when she goes to snuggle up with Carmilla after Perry is satisfied with the condition of the vampire's injuries.

"Don't think you can unleash Head Ginger on me like this and then cuddle up for forgiveness, sweetheart." Carmilla croaks. Laura smiles and runs her hand up and down the other girl's back in a comforting gesture.

"What?" She feigns ignorance. "I would never."

"Yeah, okay, whatever you say. Must have imagined you crawling into my bed more often than you actually do, then."

And Laura's heart stings, like she can feel a _physical pull_ in her chest every time Carmilla says things like this and it's so _so_ different from what it felt like when all she knew of the vampire was her stupid attractive smirk and how her legs look in leather pants. Now, now all she can think about is how Carmilla lights candles at night before she goes to sleep and how she laughs like she's still eighteen and naive and _young_ , which she no longer is.

"You imagine me crawling into your bed? How scandalous."

"Only after you scream at me about the shower drain." Carmilla's voice is sleepy and Laura can't help but drop a kiss to her forehead.

"Tomorrow. You are telling me everything."

"Tomorrow." Carmilla agrees and Laura falls asleep missing the days when her heart used to beat into overdrive at the thought of touching Carmilla because it was much easier then than it is now. Now, the only time her heart ever soothes into a calm rhythm is when she's _touching_ the vampire or is around her and she feels loss of contact in her chest more acutely than she ever could have imagined.

_Oh_ , Laura thinks sometime in the night when Carmilla shifts and pulls her closer, _I'm in love with her_.

 

* * *

 

Contrary to her words, Laura keeps her patience and doesn't force anything out of Carmilla, trusting, perhaps foolishly, that in time, the vampire will decide to tell her what's going on.

A part of her decision might have also been made for her by the fact that Carmilla is practically bed ridden at present time. Perry has been checking in regularly, muttering thinly-veiled threats against the supply of grape soda in the fridge if Carmilla so much as stretches without permission or tight supervision, and Laura is glad for the Floor Don's presence because she makes Carmilla take the time to heal.

At night, Laura fits herself in against her vampire roommate and tries to ignore how her heartbeat, now so erratic and tense in her everyday life, falls into a steady rhythm as soon as Carmilla throws an arm around her waist.

That's pretty much how her first week back at Silas works.

 

* * *

 

"Where in the world do you go on Tuesdays and Thursdays?" Carmilla asks after Laura slips into bed on Thursday night.

"Class." Laura notes happily that Carmilla seems a lot better now. Perry had sent her a text earlier in the day to inform her that Carmilla no longer needed a bandage for her chest wound. "Why?"

"You smell...off."

Carmilla wrinkles her nose and Laura pulls back in disbelief. She's showered already for goodness sakes.

"Excuse me for smelling like I had an eighteen hour work day, which I did." Laura starts to get up from the bed.

The nerve of this girl, seriously.

"Laura, Laura, Laura, _hey_." Carmilla is grabbing at her arm. "Hey, that's not what I meant. If you'd just let me get a word in, _seriously_."

"Make your point, then."

"Your scent is just different on these days, maybe because you're out longer than you usually are, I don't know." Carmilla is sitting up, shrugging. "It's not unpleasant, just different. I'll get used to it."

She _is_ out longer than usual on Tuesdays and Thursdays because Lit runs from late afternoon and into the evening. And she knows the vampire's senses are superior and, therefore, much more sensitive than hers.

Carmilla looks genuinely sorry about the fact that she had even said anything at this point.

Laura gauges the look in Carmilla's eye, decides she's being honest, and gets up from the bed anyway. And yeah, her Dad has fed her the lines about love being a compromise and all that and this is her compromising.

"Where are you going?"

She doesn't reply, mainly because she is focused on searching through the laundry on her bed. After a few minutes of digging, she finds what she's looking for, changes while facing the wall, and then resumes her position in Carmilla's bed.

"Is that my t-shirt?" Carmilla murmurs against the top of Laura's hair. Laura looks down at the Beatles shirt instinctively.

"Is the different smell gone now?"

"It's better." Carmilla yawns. "Wear the Spice Girls one next time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! Friday updates sound good to everyone?


	13. Buckle Up, Creampuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth comes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is long. Like I hope you're sitting down somewhere comfortable.

Perry clears Carmilla for activities after two more days and even hands her a pack of cookies for her good behaviour. Laura watches the exchange from her computer chair, unable to help the smile on her face.

"Thank you." Carmilla says, looking Perry straight in the eye and Laura can tell the Floor Don is slightly taken aback by the thanks.

"You're welcome, you've earned it."

"No, I meant for making sure I was alright." Carmilla smiles slightly. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome, Carmilla." Perry says in a voice that seems an octave higher than normal. "You're a good patient."

Perry then tells them that she really needs to check on Mary from next door, excuses herself, and then leaves the room.

"Well that was nice of you." Laura says, looking at Carmilla holding the package of cookies in her hands.

"Whatever."

"Does this mean you'll talk to her and LaFontaine now when they come over?"

"No promises, cupcake." Carmilla leans over and stretches in a way that reminds Laura of a cat, then kisses her cheek. "I have something important to get to. Try not to get any hair in the shower drain while I'm gone."

It's only when the vampire is out the door that Laura realizes what she's said.

"Hey!"

 

* * *

 

Carmilla comes home not even three hours later with a rip in the side of her shirt that looks suspiciously like a claw tear.

" _What the hell_." Laura says, getting up but then immediately not knowing what to do.

"I'm fine." Carmilla lifts her shirt to expose the line of her ribs, undamaged and, incredibly, scar free despite the cuts that Laura saw on them last week. "What's a friendly swipe of claws between friends."

"You must have some strange friends."

Carmilla walks over to the fridge and retrieves her carton of blood as well as a can of grape flavoured pop she loves so much before grabbing _On The Jellicoe Road_ off of Laura's shelf and making herself comfortable in bed.

"I want to know what's going on, Carmilla." Laura says through gritted teeth. "You go off at strange hours in the night and when you come back it looks like you've joined up in some sort of supernatural Fight Club or something and it's not like you're working at the diner or going to class, where do you go?"

"I'm a popular girl." Carmilla deadpans. "I get a lot of invitations."

"Seriously?"

"It's none of your business."

"You know what? Fine. Fine." Laura is aware she's making rapid hand gestures. "Keep things from me, whatever, just don't expect me to patch you up next time you come back looking like someone's tried to stake you."

"I don't need you." Carmilla says, getting up. And goddamn if Laura doesn't feel tears sting in her eyes.

"And I don't need you."

Carmilla leaves.

Laura spends the night trying not to cry into her pillow.

 

* * *

 

She jolts awake in the middle of the night to find Carmilla sat at the desk, scribbling away on a notepad, Plato's _The Republic_ open in her lap. Despite the anger she can still feel in her veins, Laura cannot help but comment.

"Are you doing homework?"

For a moment, all is quiet save for Carmilla's pen scratching against paper.

"Contrary to popular belief, I _am_ enrolled in class."

"Okay, um." Laura slides back down under the covers. "I'll just go back to sleep."

There's a sigh from Carmilla and then the wheels of the chair are scraping against wood.

"No, don't do that." Laura follows her movement with her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm not quite clear on that yet."

Laura laughs without realizing.

"I can't forgive you if you're not even apologizing for what hurt my feelings in the first place."

"What do you want me to do if I can't apologize?" Carmilla leans forward, her hands on her knee providing support for her body. "Not many people get apologies from me, sweetheart, it's not every day my sorrys go unaccepted."

"You could tell me what's been going on with you."

"It's not an ideal bedtime story."

"I want to know."

Carmilla looks physically torn between going back to whatever assignment she's doing and saying something. Laura watches her open and close her mouth twice before anything actually comes out.

"Alright then, buckle up, creampuff."

 

* * *

 

Laura sits up fully in her bed and then pivots so that she's sat with her back against the wall facing Carmilla. The vampire looks like she'd rather be anywhere but here and Laura feels slightly sorry for forcing her to talk, but her curiosity at present time is stronger than her sympathy.

"Wait." Laura says, suddenly realizing that she's hungry. "Before you start, can you please pass me the cookies on my desk?"

Carmilla rolls her eyes, but complies nonetheless.

"Okay, I'm all set."

"William bit the werewolf I had injured back in that fight from October." Carmilla is speaking softly. "Unfortunately he's only ever been taught how to turn people and not kill them so instead of finishing her off, he turned her into a hybrid."

"Woah, woah, _woah_." Laura's brain is spinning. "What? Who's William?"

"My brother, not biologically, but my brother regardless. He has been my mother's right hand man when it comes to trying to lure the wolves into crossing the border in an attempt to start a war between both sides." Carmilla sighs and Laura notices her eyes are set on the ground. "Fortunately for the wolves, the Jolly Ginger Giant that commands them is very wise."

Jolly Ginger Giant? Oh, Danny.

"Good thing Danny's got her head screwed on straight then." Laura mutters under her breath. She hasn't spoken to Danny in almost three months. The other girl has managed to avoid her at every turn and even makes sure to flee as soon as Lit is over.

Carmilla's head snaps up and she's squinting at Laura as if interrogating her.

"Who's Danny?"

"My Lit TA." Laura is slightly alarmed by the look in the vampire's eye. "I didn't know she was a werewolf until that day at the barbecue when she transformed right in front of me - "

"You were at their barbecue that day? I had been wondering how you managed to show up at completely wrong place at the worst time." Carmilla rolls her eyes. "Of course you're friends with werewolves."

"Hey! I didn't know she was one. I only see her in class twice a week and never really had the opportunity to take up her offer of a date let alone inquire as to what she does during the full moon."

"Tuesdays and Thursdays?"

"What?"

"Your Lit class?" The vampire looks like she's two pieces away from finally figuring being able to piece together a particularly difficult jigsaw puzzle. "It runs on Tuesday and Thursday?"

"Yes?" Laura doesn't have a clue why this is suddenly so important.

"That's why you smell different on those days, because you've been with a werewolf." Carmilla scoffs and crosses her arms. "God forbid you actually start dating, I might gag every time you come home."

Laura is about to reply in her wittiest tone when her brain finally catches up to what Carmilla has been saying.

"There's a vampire wolf out there? That's - _is that safe_?!"

"If it was, why do you think I'm playing babysitter?"

Laura is quiet for a moment. A hybrid? She remembers vividly that Carmilla practically tore a werewolf in two that afternoon before grabbing Laura around the waist and scaling the building of Dean's Diner. She doesn't remember Danny ever mentioning one of her Summer Society sisters had become a hybrid, but of course she and Danny were no longer really talking to each other so there's that.

"Is she - is she violent?"

Carmilla chuckles.

"Only when I try to stop her from massacring an entire village of people."

"You are a _horrible_ story teller." Laura tells her. "Your plot points are all mixed up."

"And you've never mentioned being in love with Buffy the Vampire Slayer so I think we might be even."

"Oh, please." Laura feels bad about the fact that she is absolutely giddy at the thought of Carmilla being even slightly jealous. "As if you have anything to be jealous about."

_Oh, shit. Crap crap crap did she say that out loud?_

"Damn right I don't." Carmilla's jaw flexes and then relaxes in a span of a few seconds. "You don't share your cookies with her, do you?"

 

* * *

 

"So where is she now?"

"Who?" Carmilla's back is to her again, having renewed her interest in Plato after Laura had reassured her that no, she wasn't sharing cookies with anyone else.

"Your charge."

"She lives in my old apartment." Carmilla flips a page. "Hence why I now live at Silas again."

"You've lived here before?" Laura feels strangely like she's making small talk on a first date when in reality it's just _Carmilla_ for god's sake. Just Carmilla, a girl she's so terribly in love with that she can't even really handle it.

"I come back every now and then to check on the wolf population here at school. Mother's orders."

"Does it look good right now?" Laura suddenly realizes something. "Have I ever told you that I think your mother might be building a vampire army?"

"And you say my plot points are all mixed up." Carmilla turns in her seat and smiles. "I knew. You left a printout on the desk of the names of kids who've turned up at Silas again after disappearing centuries ago."

"And?"

"And nothing. The wolves are well numbered. Mother can't overpower them."

"That's good." Laura breathes out. "No war, then."

"No war." Carmilla agrees.

 

* * *

 

"Is she the one that hurts you?" Laura asks Carmilla later when they're both snug under the blanket and the sun is just about to rise. "The hybrid?"

"She's very angry." Is all Carmilla says. "She'd rather be dead than have her family hate her."

"The wolves don't want her?"

Laura feels Carmilla shake her head.

"She made me promise I wouldn't tell them that she's still alive." Carmilla yawns. "At first I thought it was her being over dramatic, but then I realized her fear of exclusion after she tried to be friendly to a bunch of teenagers just after she ate their parents."

"Carmilla." Laura chides. "I think she might just need a friend."

"Don't we all." Carmilla drawls against Laura's skin.

"Be nice to her, maybe she'll stop trying to stake you."

"You sound like someone's vampire mother." Laura can practically see the eye roll. "The hybrid is fueled to live by her hatred of me not having killed her right. She will never see me as anything more than a monster whose sole purpose is to hold her back in life."

"Maybe you should start by calling her by name."

" _Cupcake_ , I just want to go to sleep." Another yawn. "And it's very difficult to call someone Elsie when she's trying to take out your liver."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for getting through that! We have arrived at the plot, gentle readers! #ElsieLives


	14. Fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura realizes what she needs to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday! As always, thank you for reading, and see you all next week!

Carmilla is fastening her skirt when Laura comes back from having dinner with Perry and LaFontaine a week after their big fight and subsequent make up.

Laura sits down on the bed and watches her get ready. Carmilla does up the buttons on her blouse and then pulls up the knee socks that are certainly not a part of the uniform before trudging over to the desk where she keeps a small box full of name tags, none of which spell her name correctly thanks to the unnamed careless co-worker who's in charge of them messing up. She picks one and clips it on to the right side of her shirt.

"Like what you see, cutie?" She asks, the amusement evident in her voice.

Laura wants to say _yes, yes, I like you a lot_ , but she refrains.

"Have you seen my Silas sweatpants?" She asks instead.

"I wore them yesterday."

"Seriously?"

"You could wear my leather pants." Carmilla replies stuffing her visor into a backpack. "Where are you going?"

"Um." Laura blinks. "To the diner. With you?"

"No." Carmilla looks her in the eye in an attempt to scare her, but Laura literally sleeps next to this mess of limbs every night so it has no effect.

"What do you mean, no?"

"I mean that the Prius is there now almost every night and I don't want to have to deal with her and worry about you at the same time."

"What did we say about calling Elsie by her name?"

"I'll call her that when she stops ruining one of my shirts every time she has a mood swing."

"You really mean it when you say I can't come?"

"I really mean it." Carmilla slips her backpack on. "I'll be home before dawn anyway, I have shorter shifts now."

"Alright." Laura says, she's slowly learning to pick her battles when it comes to Carmilla despite the fact that it is painfully obvious she will practically be doing the other girl's bidding if she continues to be passive. "Try not to get staked tonight."

"And you try not to get all sweaty and delirious about Kipling before I get back." Carmilla says, alluding to Laura punching her in the face the night before. In Laura's defense, she was still very much in the middle of a nightmare involving Kipling trying to eat her brains and it only made sense that her delusional mind would think that Carmilla, who was closest to her in proximity, was Kipling himself.

Without thinking, she throws her pillow at the vampire's retreating back, only for Carmilla to turn, catch it, and softly throw it back at her before shutting the door.

"Stupid vampire." Laura yells.

She can hear Carmilla laughing in the hallway.

 

* * *

 

Thinking about Kipling gives Laura an idea that she realizes halfway through she may regret. Nevertheless, she's missed being able to talk to Danny in class and she misses how Danny would offer her carrots or fruits in tutorials when the TA knows Laura is hungry.

So she puts on her warmest clothes, correction, a compilation of her clothes and Carmilla's, and heads out towards the Summer Society House at the edge of campus. It's a beautifully built house, Carmilla could probably identify it as Victorian had she accompanied Laura. There's a wrap around porch and turrets and everything.

Laura rings the doorbell confidently at first, but the moment her finger leaves the bell, she starts to feel like she's invading someone else's territory.

A girl Laura doesn't recognize, who is almost as tall as Danny, answers the door less than a minute later.

"Hi, welcome to the Summer Society House." She says cheerfully, eyeing Laura's big parka. "What can I do for you?"

"Hello! I'm looking for Danny Lawrence?" 

"I'll go tell her you're here." The girl says, opening the door wider and gesturing for Laura to come in. "Are you one of her friends?"

The house is even more beautiful inside. There is an antique feel to it and the decorations emphasize that. Laura almost feels like she should be wearing an elegant dress to fit into the house's decor.

There is a staircase on the right immediately after the entrance and further down the hall she can hear a group of girls talking in quiet voices amidst the sounds of food being chopped and Jeopardy playing on a television in the background.

"Um." Laura hesitates because at this point she's entirely not sure Danny would consider her a friend. "Student, actually."

"Okay. I'll go call her." The girl starts walking up the stairs. "I'll be right back."

Laura feels strange standing in the foyer of the house like some sort of intruder, but stays put all the same. She's going to make an effort, she reminds herself, because Danny was a friend before all this happened and Laura would like that friendship back.

Danny descends the stairs just as Laura is starting to unzip her parka because is it ever warm in here.

"Hollis?" She says questioningly. "What brings you here?"

"I was hoping we could talk." Laura aims for cheerful, but fails.

Danny's face betrays no emotion whatsoever.

"Alright. You okay to do this outside? I need some air."

Danny opens the door for her and waits until she passes through before following suit and closing it behind her. Laura welcomes the cool air on her skin after having stood inside what feels like a boiler for the last several minutes.

"So what's this about?" Danny's voice is soft and Laura is slightly taken aback because she knows the werewolf is mad at her, but the fact that she's not showing it is throwing her off guard.

"I know you're mad at me about the whole rushing to the aid of my vampire crush thing, but - "

"I wasn't mad." Danny cuts in. "Surprised, but I wasn't mad."

"O - okay."

"I was more mad that you didn't follow instructions about going north."

"I was emotionally invested." Laura shrugs. "There was no way I was leaving it up to fate to decide whether or not you would both make it out alive."

Laura plops herself down on the top step of the stairs that lead up to the porch. Danny sits down with her. She gives Danny a few minutes as an opportunity to start conversation on her own terms, but the werewolf stays quiet.

"So are you like, werewolf queen?" Laura asks to break the silence. Danny chuckles while looking down at the ground.

"I'm the pack leader." She says, running a hand through her hair. "But my grandma is the leader of the community."

"So is she werewolf queen?" Laura can't help but ask, reveling in the small smile on Danny's face.

"Yes, she's werewolf queen." She looks at Laura and smiles and it's so bright and uncomplicated that Laura wishes she'd fallen in love with Danny Lawrence instead. "I gotta say, you took the werewolf thing pretty well. Normally, girls run in the other direction and never look back. You're here visiting the lair."

"My roommate is a vampire." Laura says mock incredulously. "Of course I took the werewolf thing well."

Danny laughs at that.

"I'd kill her if I had the chance." Danny grimaces at Laura's wide eyes. "And she'd do the same to me. This is a war, Laura."

"No it's not!"

"Not yet."

"She's harmless. She doesn't want this."

"Being harmful is in her nature."

"And it's not in yours?"

Danny opens her mouth to reply, then closes it.

"What is this?" She asks, gesturing to Laura's person. "This isn't just a crush thing, have you gone and fallen in love with her?"

When Laura doesn't answer, Danny falls silent. They sit together for a long time, Laura thinks about Carmilla, probably sitting behind the counter at the diner with _The Stranger_ in her hands while talking to a faceless Elsie.

Danny breaks the silence, nudging Laura's shoulder with her own.

"You know, Hollis, I had a pretty big crush on you not too long ago."

Laura can tell Danny is joking, it might be somewhat of a truth, but the intent is not to make her feel bad about the fact and she appreciates it.

"Yeah? How's that working out for you?"

"Well, it turns out, I only had a crush on your former roommate who has now moved across the ocean to Princeton."

"Yeah, sorry about that." She says, not really sure if the apology is restricted to the last comment or of it encompasses everything she's done.

"Hey, no worries." Danny is smiling and Laura can tell the wolf has taken it as the latter. "I'll forgive you in exchange for her phone number."

 

* * *

 

More often than not these days, Carmilla comes home with some sort of injury.

At first, Laura can tell that the damage is done by Elsie as claw marks would just be disappearing from Carmilla's skin by the time the vampire arrived in their room, but lately the injuries were becoming bone deep. Once, Carmilla came home walking with a light limp. Laura ignored her entrance in favor of brainstorming for her Journalism project until she started hearing a crunching noise. It later became apparent that each step Carmilla took was dislodging her broken femur.

Fortunately, it only took her a couple of days to heal each time. Laura tries to help by getting her ice packs or handing her mugs of blood. She draws the line when Carmilla walks in one night cradling her arm, however.

"I thought we were past this." Laura can't help but say as she helps Carmilla get out of the shirt she's wearing.

"Laura fuck - " Carmilla's face twists into a grimace when Laura accidentally pulls a little too carelessly on the shirt. "Please be careful."

"What have you gotten into this time?" She watches Carmilla turn and undoes the bra strap that's offered up for her hands to work on.

"New baby vamps need a babysitter too." Carmilla shucks off the bra and Laura catches herself admiring the slim muscles that line her back before grabbing the nearest shirt off of her bed and slipping it over the vampire's head. "It's too bad they're inhumane little suckers because I'm all for the sibling bonding."

When Carmilla's got the shirt on properly, one of Laura's _Property of Silas Journalism_ shirts from frosh week interestingly enough, she gets into bed. Laura watches her shuffle her body so that her back is against the wall, leaving plenty of space for Laura to get in.

"I really wish you'd tell me when these things happen."

"You already know she's building an army." Carmilla is looking up at her with something like fear in her eyes. "I don't know why you disregard old information and want me to tell it like it's new."

"If it's too difficult for you to keep me up to date on the reasons why you come home every night needing me to fix you, then maybe you shouldn't expect my help."

"I don't - " The vampire's tone is biting. Laura recognizes that the other girl has just prevented herself from saying something and she softens. She makes the connection between this moment and back a month ago when Carmilla walked out after a devastating _I don't need you_ and there's so much in the vampire's eyes right now.

"Carm?" She prompts.

"This is a war."

"You said it wasn't - "

Carmilla looks down and she looks so small and so lost that Laura wants to forget whatever they're talking about and just hold her instead, but she resists.

"I was wrong. This war is coming. And I'm going to do everything I can to stop it."

"Including sacrificing your well-being? Yeah, I don't think so."

"I don't want any more blood on my hands than there already is."

"So stand up to her!"

"And what, get myself killed without having made a single difference?" She scoffs and mimics Laura's voice. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Carmilla, you can always work with the wolves." Laura regrets the words as soon as they are out of her mouth. "They're fighting for the same cause, they'd help you."

"Have you been listening to a word I've said about the werewolves? Every one of them wants my head." Her voice is rough, but the slump of her shoulders just looks defeated and Laura is so angry at the thought of Carmilla just resigning herself to the idea that she will lose no matter what that her voice rises.

"And what's your plan when this war starts, huh? If you're not gonna tell everyone what we're up against, you're going to lose the fight before it even ends!"

"If the fight starts, then I've already lost, sweetheart."

Laura tries to make sense of the words in her mind, but falls short.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm trying to prevent my siblings from feeding, I've been sending them away from Silas, I've been doing everything I can to make sure my mother's army is crippled." Carmilla slings an arm over her eyes. "But I'm still only delaying the inevitable until my siblings turn on her too."

"But what if that plan doesn't work? What if the wolves were the better option and the war begins anyway?"

Carmilla's smile is sad and a little worse for wear.

"I'm going to run."

 

* * *

 

Laura finds herself sat at her computer table the Saturday after she cried for Carmilla's losing battle. Carmilla's at the diner and Laura didn't even try to come along this time. Her journalism project is open on the screen half-finished, but she's been having trouble dedicating herself to researching the underground tunnels that exist underneath Styria and their purpose.

Her mind's on war.

She wonders briefly if she can get away with abandoning her project in favor of covering the conflict between the vampires and the werewolves, but decides it's probably a bad idea. She does let herself click through the Silas University student forums, however.

Most nights the forum is full of posts like missed connections or a call for the owners of valuables found in lecture halls to redeem them. There are a few posts that pique Laura's interest though.

One user asked if anyone cared about the fact that there is a supernatural showdown happening in their area and another responded with something about raising awareness through things like tumblr or even YouTube videos.

It's a good idea, spreading awareness. That way, people can take precautions to avoid becoming vampire dinner and keep themselves safe by avoiding tension areas near boundary lines.

She's done this before, made videos to raise awareness about things. And yes, the last cause she dedicated herself to filming about was a charity bake sale, but the mechanics are the same, she knows.

And maybe people being aware can somehow keep Carmilla safe. Or safer than she is now.

Laura thinks about it for a moment.

And then she's flipping on her webcam and nothing has ever felt so natural in the world.


	15. Roadblocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura is stubborn af.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1k kudos??? What???

 

Laura knows she's been figured out when LaFontaine and Perry come into her room one day in the middle of the afternoon. Perry has a look on her face that either means she loves what Laura is doing or completely hates it and LaFontaine looks determined.

"Hi," Laura says, studying both of their faces. "guys."

"Hey frosh." LaFontaine takes a seat at her computer. "What 'cha up to?"

"Nothing." Laura holds up the shirt in her hands and gestures to the pile of laundry in her bed. "Carmilla did laundry last night. Just folding."

"I thought we talked about how bad of an idea this is already." Perry says before LaFontaine can even respond to what Laura has just said. "Getting involved in this, Laura, is a serious matter."

Well there was no getting around it now.

"You guys found the videos?"

"Just the one." LaF grimaces. "How many more are there?"

"A few more." Laura feels a bit defensive. "People need to know this is happening! Everyone could be in danger - "

"It's putting you on the map, Laura." Perry says.

"Yeah, just today some kid in one of my classes asked me if I," LaF makes quotation marks with their fingers, "know that Hollis chick."

"That's not necessarily bad - " Laura starts.

"He's a part of Zeta Omega Mu." LaFontaine cuts her off. "You know who else is part of Zeta Omega Mu?"

"Who?"

"William Eisen."

A bit of panic settles in Laura's stomach.

"Oh, crap."

Perry nods.

"So we all agree that your filming thing is unsafe and needs to stop, then?"

"But that's - " Laura wants to go back to a time when she has yet to turn on her camera, but she also feels, for the first time, that she is making somewhat of a difference. "People are noticing, this is good! I mean, the awareness must be through the roof right now."

"Unfortunately, you're also making dangerous creatures aware of you."

"And that's not good." Perry adds.

"But unlike Perry, I think we can find a way for this to keep happening while also keeping you off of vampires' radars."

"How are you going to manage that?" Laura wonders aloud.

"You let me worry about that." LaF gets up and pats Laura on the head. "In the meantime, you should probably lay low and stop posting for a while."

 

* * *

 

Danny sends her a text after she ignores LaF's advice and posts a video the next day anyways.

_Laura_ , it says without any lead-up or beating around the bush, _stop this_.

 

* * *

 

She knows Carmilla's figured her out three days later when she's sitting at the desk, researching about the tunnels, and the vampire storms in with a frown on her face.

She's in uniform with a jacket piled on top of her frame. She hasn't even taken off her hood and she's already marching towards Laura.

"What are you doing?" Carmilla asks in a dangerously low voice before Laura can even stutter through a greeting. "Seriously, what part of anything I've told you about this made you think that sticking your nose in it is a good idea?"

When Laura doesn't answer, she huffs and walks towards their little kitchen area, shredding her jacket along the way. Laura closes her eyes and moves to face her desk again, carefully thinking about her response.

She feels like she's walking a tightrope here.

"I want to spread awareness." Laura finally says, turning to watch Carmilla pour blood into a cup. "I want to help people."

"Is it really worth aggravating both sides of a supernatural Cold War to save maybe one or two people from their fate?"

_If one of them is you_ , she wants to say, _then yes_.

Laura wants to be angry at her. She wants to scream at Carmilla to stop doing things to her heart, wants to yell at her about the fact that she wants to run, wants to shake some sense into her. But Carmilla is looking at her like she's both amazed at Laura's audacity and disgusted by it and her face is so young when her emotions conflict like this.

"Isn't that what you're doing?"

"I'm picking my battles, you're choosing to walk through the line of fire without armor."

Laura nods.

"Are you going to stop me?"

Carmilla sighs and puts down her mug. She gives Laura one last look before slipping her jacket back on and stomping out the door.

 

* * *

 

She doesn't see Carmilla again for a few days. Of course, a warm figure settles into bed beside her every night, but when it comes to actually talking to the vampire or seeing her in the light of day, Laura hasn't had a single opportunity.

Carmilla works during the day on weekdays now and comes home late. Laura converses with her viewers online about spreading information in the evenings when she's not digging up layouts of city buildings in the archives at City Hall or working on yet another Philosophy paper. The people who watch the videos are passionate, that much she can see, and some of them call for further action to be taken like peaceful protests against war and information sessions.

Laura doesn't commit to organizing anything until someone comments on the fact that she's the one that started this and that it's her responsibility to put his together. She doesn't want this getting out of hand, so she puts up a Facebook event for an "information sit-in", she's not a social activist just a journalism student with entirely too much invested in a cause and a project she really does not want to do, and shuts off her computer because she can feel a massive headache coming along.

The sit-in can be a good way to give people information about border lines and making sure they remember to travel in large crowds at night.

Laura thinks of all the positive things this can bring before she falls asleep into a nightmare that inexplicably involves her Tardis mug and one of the paper weights she keeps on her desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Next one is longer, I promise :)


	16. Elsie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #ElsieLives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be away until next week and you guys deserve nice things. Enjoy!

Laura realizes she should probably tell Carmilla about this sit-in protest thing before it actually happens so she goes to the diner one Saturday night. And the thing is, she knows it's probably not a good idea to disregard Carmilla's preference to not have her around in the diner anymore, but Laura can't help but think of the place as something special and she can never catch Carmilla around during the hours when they're both awake so she goes.

For once, the place isn't empty. There are three booths full of people and a few more scattered around the counter, sitting in the bar stools. Carmilla looks busy and she doesn't even look when Laura enters. She's got help tonight. There are a few voices that can be heard coming from the back room. Laura sits at her usual booth and takes out some homework she's been neglecting.

She gets through editing five pages of her Philosophy paper before someone slides into the booth across the table from her.

The girl is blonde, with sharp features. She's wearing a sundress despite the fact that it's early February in Austria and there is a dark bruise marring her cheek.

"Are you the little lady?" She asks, leaning forward and studying Laura. "You look like a naive little provincial girl. I can see why Fangs likes you."

"I'm sorry?" Laura leans back as far away as she can. The girl just holds her hand out over the table, a smug smile on her face.

"And I'm Elsie." She grins. "Funny, Fangs said your name was Laura."

"And how do you know if I'm Laura?"

"No one sits here." Elsie gestures to the booth and then tilts her head towards where Carmilla is jotting down orders on a notepad. "She moves 'em. Everyone's gotten the memo that this booth's off limits. I see why, now."

Before Laura can speak, Elsie is talking again.

"Are you the one that took care of her last time I tried to stake her? She's a scrawny little thing, but she's good in a scrap. She's got a damn good grip." The blonde twists in her seat and Laura is able to see the purpled skin on the back of her neck. "See that? She did that after I asked if she was fucking the preppy frat vampire."

"Is she?" Laura wonders aloud. Elsie laughs.

"See, I thought she was fucking you. You two smell very much alike."

"I didn't appreciate you trying to stake her." She tells Elsie seriously after the other girl has stopped laughing. "She wasn't herself for a few days."

"Trust me, you wreck her without touchin' 'er." Elsie smiles and sits back. "Speaking of, why are you two fighting this time?"

Laura is enjoying this conversation despite herself.

"How do you know we're fighting?"

"She feels bad. About me being turned. When I get mad about something." Elsie shrugs. "She's told me to beat her up instead of going after humans in the countryside. She only fights back sometimes."

"I'm sorry, but she _lets_ you beat her up?" Laura's aghast. "Are we talking about the same Carmilla here?"

"She says it's better than me slaughtering an entire village." Elsie rolls her eyes. "I notice things - "

"I've noticed."

Elsie glares before continuing.

" _I notice things_ , like her fighting back only sometimes and I asked her about it a couple times and both times she said you'd had a fight. So I know now, when you're fighting, she hits back."

Laura shoots the girl a glare of her own, remembering Carmilla's battered body from the past few months.

"Maybe I should argue with her more often, then."

Elsie smiles.

 

* * *

 

Carmilla finally makes her way over to their booth while Laura and Elsie are deep in discussion about the kind of music Elsie likes.

She drops off a plate of brownies and a mug of hot cocoa for Laura and a sunny side up egg with toast and bacon for Elsie.

"We are going to talk about you being here later." She says to Laura while she's setting their food down in front of them. "Enjoy each other's company before I kill both of you."

 

* * *

 

She tells Elsie about the sit-in after they disagree about Taylor Swift's new album.

Elsie hates that she's not country anymore while Laura just loves her no matter what she sounds like because her music is good.

"So you're going to meet a bunch of strangers to protest about the vampire-werewolf conflict?" Elsie whistles. "You're going to give her wrinkles, I _like_ you."

"I'm going to tell her, though." Laura says, watching Carmilla send home the boys in the kitchen. One of them, Kirsch, is in Laura's Lit class. She remembers because he got very confused about Beowulf on the first day. The diner is clear now except for her and Elsie and Laura knows she'll have to say something to Carmilla sooner rather than later.

"I need a smoke." Elsie announces. "But I'll stick around for this argument."

Carmilla closes the diner door after the two boys and Laura watches her pick her way through other tables and chairs to get to their booth. She looks bored, but there's a tension in her arms that Laura knows is an indication of how truly pissed off she is in this moment.

"What happened to us agreeing you won't come to the diner anymore?" Carmilla asks, sliding in beside Laura into the booth. "Prius can scratch your pretty face up bad if she loses her brain for a moment like she's prone to doing."

Elsie smirks.

"Yeah, little lady, didn't you know that Fangs here really values that pretty face of yours?"

Carmilla ignores her.

"I'm actually here for a reason, you know." Laura feels the need to point out. "It's something I think you might want to know."

"And what's that?" Carmilla drawls, picking at the edge of the brownie plate. Laura specifically left one on the the plate for her because she knows the vampire likes, or at least doesn't mind, sweets.

"I'm - maybe - _possibly_? I'm possibly leading a peaceful protest slash information drive on the supernatural conflict that's occurring? It's happening tomorrow, maybe."

A portion of the plate breaks under the pressure of Carmilla's fingertip.

"Well, I'm off for a smoke now." Elsie jumps up. "I'll be seeing a lot more of you later, little lady."

Laura sends a smile her way, but she's focused solely on Carmilla's reaction at this point. The vampire's jaw is clenched and her eyes are glued to the table.

"Carm?" Laura prods.

There's a sigh and then Carmilla's looking at her and it's not a glare, instead it's an intense combination of emotions that Laura can't name, but equates to different situations. There's the time Laura woke up from a nightmare, and the time she refused to get under the table of this booth when Carmilla told her to, there's the look Carmilla gave her on the roof of this diner telling her to stay put, and all of those looks are there in her eyes along with what feels like hundreds more.

"Why must you get yourself into these situations?" Carmilla's voice is steady and nonchalant, but she's gripping the table so tightly that her knuckles are white and Laura is afraid for the table's future.

"I - "

"It's like you're asking to be vampire food. You're already on my mother's radar after the whole ambush the faculty advisor meeting and here you are getting into more trouble." Laura tries to pry Carmilla's hand from the table and hold it in hers, because the wood is creaking and sounds like it's two seconds away from destruction, only for the vampire to pull her hand away and rest it on her own lap.

" _Wait_ , but how does she know about LaFontaine and I trying to get into that meeting?"

Carmilla's eyes soften into what they look like when she's about to fall asleep and Laura can't help but associate this look with child-like wonder because her eyes are so wide and so dark. She reaches for Carmilla's hand, finds her knee instead, but holds on nonetheless.

"Laura." She says, and Laura barely notices the sound of the diner door opening because she's so lost in those eyes. "My mother is the Dean."

And before Laura can answer or react to the pit of dread that has taken up residence in her stomach, Elsie is at Carmilla's shoulder and the panicked look on her face makes Carmilla's whole body go rigid.

"There's something coming." The blonde says hurriedly. "I can't - I have a cold - I don't recognize the scent - "

Laura feels Carmilla's hand slide over hers, give it a squeeze, and then gently uncurl Laura's fingers from around her knee.

"Will you two please stay put?" She asks exasperatedly as she gets up.

Elsie nods and Laura is confused by the turn of events, but she can tell easily enough this may be dangerous.

"Carm." She says, scrambling to her knees in the booth. " _Be careful_."

She gets a small smile in return and then Carmilla's lips press gently against her nose.

"Stay here."

And then she's out the diner door and gone.


	17. Lines Crossed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny and Carmilla reach some sort of understanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So it's a week since I last updated and I thought why not update today? 
> 
> Thank you for reading!

After Elsie calms down enough to breathe properly again, Laura leads her into the broom closet where the ladder that goes up to the roof is located.

"Oh, she's going to have a coronary because of you." Elsie drawls when she sees the ladder and puts it all together. "You do realize you have her wrapped around that pinky finger of yours?"

Laura has not realized that. In fact, she spends so much time out of every day decidedly _not_ thinking about Carmilla and the vampire's hypothetical feelings for her because god, it gives her a hell of a migraine and also, the idea of those hypothetical feelings not being what she wants them to be kind of hurts. So she avoids the topic altogether.

Elsie keeps on talking.

"Man, if her mother finds out about you, she is toast - "

"Elsie." Laura interrupts, continuing to climb the ladder. "What's your favorite color?"

There's a short silence where all Laura can hear is her own labored breathing.

"Black." Elsie finally answers.

_Typical_.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't you think about it for a while." Laura suggests, focusing on not falling off of this metal ladder, but also pleased that she's managed to shut up her companion.

When she gets to the top, it takes her a few moments to unlatch the trap door that opens out into the roof and even more time to haul herself up off the ladder. It really was easier when Carmilla took her up.

She ends up flopping onto the surface like a dead fish. Elsie follows soon after, using one arm to launch herself up. She lands on her feet.

"Stupid supernatural creatures." Laura murmurs, dusting herself off.

They walk to the side of the roof that faces Alexander Street together. Laura sits herself down above the apostrophe while Elsie slips down to stand on the 'S'.

"Are you insane?" Laura asks, watching the hybrid lean against the brick, half of each of her feet hanging off the surface of the letter.

"The only thing I got out of being turned was good balance, little lady." Elsie smiles smugly. "I can see better from here too."

Elsie waves in the general direction of the ground and Laura has to crane her neck to see Carmilla standing on the sidewalk holding up her middle finger in response.

"I told you to stay put." She calls.

"When have I ever?" Elsie asks at the same time that Laura says,

"Please be careful."

Carmilla rolls her eyes at both.

 

* * *

 

After a few minutes of silence that Laura spends watching the stars, Elsie tenses where she stands.

"There it is." She says.

Laura can't see anything, but Carmilla on the ground does not look apathetic any longer.

"What is it?"

"Looks like - " Elsie cuts herself off when a large animal emerges seemingly out of nowhere, headed for the back alley that runs beside the diner. Carmilla becomes a blur then, just a streak of red and blue in the relative darkness. There seems to be a scuffle occurring and Laura is suddenly very uncomfortable that Elsie's up on the roof with her rather than helping Carmilla down on the street.

"Are you going to help her?" Her voice sounds panicked even to her own ears. Elsie just looks at her.

"It's a baby wolf." The blonde says. "She can handle ten of 'em in her sleep."

Laura watches as the blur that is Carmilla slows down. Soon, she can see that the wolf is lying prone on the ground, unmoving.

"She didn't - " Laura is unable to voice her thoughts.

"Of course not." Elsie points. "She wouldn't kill a baby. Strange that it's here, though. Almost like it didn't know about the borders."

Laura watches Carmilla push the wolf onto the opposite sidewalk of Alexander. She doesn't register what the vampire is doing at first until she realizes the wolf had crossed the boundary before Carmilla tackled it. She was now depositing it back over to its own side.

"Call your TA girlfriend." Carmilla calls, running a hand through her hair and staring directly at Laura. "We've got a new turn on our hands."

 

* * *

 

Elsie retreats into the diner as soon as Laura informs Carmilla that Danny had texted her back saying she was on her way. If Laura didn't believe what Carmilla had said about the hybrid not wanting the wolves to find out she was still alive, she believes it wholeheartedly now.

Danny arrives in her wolf form, Laura realizes very quickly that she was not able to fully appreciate the beauty and sheer size of Danny at Hall Park because she had not been able to compare her to other wolves. But even in the dim lighting of the street below, her superiority to the two others she brought along is majestic.

Danny lets her packmates take care of the wolf still lying on the pavement. She transforms just as she's walking towards Carmilla, who is standing in the middle of Alexander Street with her arms crossed.

Laura might be oblivious to many things, but she understands how big of a moment this is. Carmilla had every right to kill that wolf and the fact that she didn't - well, Danny appreciates it, most likely. And the possibilities of what that would mean for the 'enemies' dynamic they've got going on makes Laura's head hurt.

They talk for a few minutes. Carmilla keeps her nonchalant stance while Danny seems to be trying to convince the vampire of something. Carmilla just waves whatever it is off with a gesture of her hand. Danny shrugs, then, and she looks so resigned that Laura wants to comfort her.

"Hi, Laura." Danny calls suddenly, waving.

"Hi!" Laura calls back.

Danny says something to Carmilla that makes the vampire turn and roll her eyes at Laura.

"She's asking why I let you up there." Carmilla sounds like she's drawling even when she's speaking this loudly.

"She didn't let me." Laura yells back. "I came up here myself."

Danny laughs and says something to Carmilla again before holding out a hand for Carmilla to shake and waving at Laura one last time before turning into a wolf once more.

 

* * *

 

Carmilla comes up to the roof after, her hair messy and her apron dirty and she looks like she wants to say something, but doesn't.

"Where's Elsie?" Laura asks.

"Watching the diner." Carmilla replies, taking a seat beside her. "I told her to call me if there are customers."

Laura nods and tries to come up with the proper words for what she wants to say.

"Earlier, when you said your mother - "

"I thought you knew."

"I should have!" Laura exclaims, aware that she is flapping her hands around in frustration. "That's the problem. I should have known, but for some reason - "

"You're going to become the most oblivious journalist this planet has ever seen." Carmilla says on a laugh so full of glee that Laura is frozen by it for a moment.

"I know." She answers, shaking her head and smiling back at her friend. "The clues were all there for me to put together but I somehow did not."

Laura reaches for her hand then, because Carmilla looks so young and soft with that smile on her face and it makes Laura's heart skip a beat when the vampire allows their fingers to lace together.

"Down on the street earlier," Laura watches Carmilla look at their joined hands. She looks fascinated. "Did you and Danny make peace or something?"

"Something like that. She's a competent leader, your TA girlfriend."

"She was never my girlfriend."

They look at each other for a moment.

"I won't get in the way of your protest." Carmilla starts, breaking both the silence and the eye contact. "But I'm not participating in it, either."

"That's fair." Laura tries to recapture her eyes. "I understand."

"I'm picking my battles." The vampire says in a stiff tone. "I'm not stopping you."

"And I appreciate that."

"You know there'll be consequences." Carmilla says, leaning back to rest her back against the surface of the roof. Her eyes trailing up towards the stars. She gives Laura's hand a squeeze before disentangling their fingers.

"I know." Laura tries to mimic Carmilla's position, but she can't tear her eyes away from the vampire. She's _so_ in love and she wants so badly to kiss her and hold her and never let go. "But isn't it wonderful how insignificant those consequences are in comparison?"

There's a smile on Carmilla's face.

"You're getting it, cupcake. You're getting it."


	18. Trade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and Laura make a deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm bad at update schedules.

The protest takes place the next day despite the fact that Laura has a headache the size of Texas.

A lot of people show up. Like a lot. Like enough to make her jaw drop in amazement when she, LaF, and Perry see the crowd gathered at Hall Park for the first time.

She recognizes some of them. There's a boy from her Journalism class and a girl she sometimes sees when she goes to the washroom in between Lit and Philosophy on Thursdays. There's Sarah Jane and her friend who Laura recognizes from an Intro to Criminology class she originally took, but ended up dropping. And what's even more amazing is that when she addresses the crowd, they all stop fiddling with the signs they've made and chatting amongst themselves and they actually listen to her.

She leads them in the walk up Belle street and when they get to Alexander, Laura traces the boundary line with her footsteps in the same way Carmilla traced it with her finger so many nights ago.

 

* * *

 

"It was amazing." Laura says to Carmilla later when she gets into her own, separate, unusually laundry-free, bed by herself. "I didn't think there would be that many people."

Carmilla flips a page in the book she's reading.

"Are you going to be doing it again?"

"Maybe!" Laura grins up at her ceiling, still high off of the success that was the protest. "So many people joined in as we walked too. After we told them what we were doing, I think we're finally making a difference."

A sudden wave of drowsiness passes over her as soon as she finishes her sentence and her eyes flutter closed. Carmilla says something in response, but Laura is already falling asleep.

 

* * *

 

Laura wakes up from a nightmare later the same night to find Carmilla hovering over her, a hand shaking her shoulder.

She sits up and winces because her right hand suddenly feels like it's on fire. Carmilla removes her hand from Laura's shoulder and straightens so she's standing up to her full height. Laura notices for the first time that the vampire is in nothing other than one of Laura's tank tops and one of Laura's sleep shorts and it becomes increasingly difficult not to touch when she feels like the vampire is already hers.

Carmilla looks drowsy, like she was in the process of getting to sleep before padding over to Laura's side of the room to shake Laura awake. She blinks sleepily and doesn't move for a moment.

"Thanks." Laura breathes out, unable to help the hand that reaches up to push hair out of Carmilla's eyes. Her heart drops when the vampire flinches away from her touch and she notices a large bruise blooming on the other girl's cheek.

"What happened to you?"

Carmilla shrugs off her concern.

"You just - you had a nightmare." She says, stepping back.

"Probably because I'm sleeping alone." Laura replies quickly and she's glad for the dim light in the room because the blush on her face is probably the most intense color of red ever.

“Probably because leading a movement is wearing you out.”

Laura rolls her eyes and looks pointedly at her roommate and then down to her bed. She repeats the motion twice and Carmilla looks torn so Laura scoots over and makes it painfully obvious what she wants and means.

She even folds back a portion of her blankets and pats the mattress.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea - "

"Please, Carm."

Carmilla sighs and complies. Laura falls asleep as soon as her arms go around her roommate.

 

* * *

 

Laura organizes two more peaceful protests because they're actually _changing something_. They're making normal people aware of the events occurring between supernatural creatures and they're making people want to make a difference.

Carmilla is silent every time the topic of protests is brought up. Laura tries to engage with her, tries to gauge what she's thinking, but fails.

She notices the bruise on Carmilla's face again a few days later. It looks re-aggravated and Laura wants to punch Elsie in the face.

"You alright?" She reaches out to cup Carmilla's cheek and is a little hurt by the way the vampire flinches away from her touch. They've been huddling together for sleep for a few months now, but Laura craves contact in the light of day. She wants to be able to hold Carmilla's hand, touch her cheek, hug her as a greeting.

"Fine."

"Elsie again?"

"My mother." Carmilla turns away to pack her backpack and Laura drops her outstretched arm, a bit disappointed.

"Why?"

"Someone told her about me not killing that wolf a few weeks ago." Carmilla puts on her backpack. "She wasn't happy."

"I bet." Laura walks over to the computer, realizing she still has a paper to edit and another protest to plan. “Hey, would you maybe come out to one of the sit-ins one day?”

Carmilla is silent and Laura fights to not look over her shoulder at the vampire because yeah, these sit-ins are meant to educate people and keep the general population safe through constant vigilance and whatever, but Laura started this because of this girl.

And maybe she wants Carmilla to see that.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, cutie.” Carmilla says in her trademark nonchalant tone. “I actually think the whole thing isn’t a good idea.”

“Not this again.” Laura groans and opens up the word document that is her paper. “LaF developed an algorithm that even Perry has approved of, these videos aren’t – “

“You’re still walking the line of fire.” She can hear Carmilla’s footsteps get closer and so she pivots in the chair to look at her. “But this time, you’re taunting people to shoot at you. Do you even _see_ how ridiculous this whole thing is?”

“It’s not ridiculous at all.” Laura can feel tears welling in her eyes and so she turns back to her computer. “I don’t even know why I bother caring about you sometimes. You’re a jackass.”

“And you’re an entitled brat trying to play hero.” Carmilla says. “I can’t be trying to stop this war and saving your ass all at the same time.”

“Then don’t!”

“ _Fine_!”

Carmilla slams the door shut and Laura returns to her paper, her eyes are glassy and she knows there is no way in hell she’s going to be able to start on this until Carmilla is back safely in their room.

 

* * *

 

Carmilla returns extremely late at night.

Laura wakes when she hears the door opening and she listens as Carmilla stomps over to her own side of the room. The vampire’s boots hit the floor one after the other and there’s the familiar rustle of clothes being removed and others being put on. Laura waits until she hears the mattress dip before speaking.

“Carm.” Is all she says.

She’s tired, she can’t sleep peacefully anymore without Carmilla beside her and her headaches are getting worse and worse. She’s beyond caring about how needy she sounds.

There’s a sigh and then the mattress creaks again and Carmilla’s slipping under her blankets and laying a soft kiss to her forehead and Laura snuggles into her.

“Please stop involving yourself.” Carmilla says.

“Stop leaving.” Laura hears herself mumble.

There is a pause and she gives up on getting a reply, instead choosing to enjoy the way Carmilla’s arms wrap around her. It’s strangely soothing, feeling the rise and fall of the other girl’s chest against the side of her face.

Laura is almost completely asleep when the vampire’s voice causes vibrations to erupt under her ear.

“I’ll do that trade.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	19. Fighting Dirty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> via carmillasleatherpants: Carmilla and Laura honor a deal. For a little while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for taking the time to read! See you all again next week!

Carmilla takes her quasi promise to stay very seriously over the next few weeks.

She’s still sleeping by the time Laura leaves in the mornings and when Laura gets back from class, she’s usually sitting in bed, book in hand, bored expression on her face. It’s a refreshing change from her usual absence.

Carmilla still goes to the diner to work her shifts and Laura comes with her, dragging an armful of homework along, which serves as entertainment for her until it’s time for the two of them to go home.

Elsie comes over a few times and the three of them play cards on the floor of the dorm room. It’s a strange version of normalcy that Laura grows fond of, coming home with Carmilla or coming home to Carmilla waiting for her and then spending the evening together like –

No, she’s _not_ thinking about _that_.

Laura finds that the urge to make videos and change something dissipates when Carmilla is present and so she doesn’t even entertain the idea. At least until she sees a disappearance reported in the school newspaper.

“Carm.” She says, turning to look at the vampire who is sat on her own bed for once. “Have you seen this?”

“The blonde from the swim team? Yeah.”

“And?”

“And it happens.” Carmilla’s gaze is hard. “Stay out of it.”

“You’re just going to let this happen? When we could be stopping it?” Laura watches her turn a page in her book and the steady feeling of content that Carmilla’s constant presence has put in her chest slowly melts into the anger that the vampire’s apathy always seems to cause.

“Laura.” Carmilla warns, clearly recognizing the change in her facial expression. “We made a deal.”

“Forget that! There are – people could be safer if I just – “

“This is the safer option.”

“For whom?”

“For both of us.” Carmilla drops her book onto the mattress and stands. “You have my mother’s attention and it would be beneficial if you lose it in the near future.”

Laura meets her eyes and they’re darker than she’s ever seen them, but that anger is still there.

“Is the safety of hundreds of others really worth less than the well- being of two?”

“If one of them is _you_ ,” Carmilla says, “then yes.”

She walks slowly to where Laura’s still sat in her computer chair and Laura thinks she’s never seen Carmilla’s facial expression quite as conflicted. Her limbs look stiff and her movements jerky and Laura’s about to say something when Carmilla’s hand suddenly slides against her jaw to rest just under her ear. She closes her eyes because they’re _arguing_ and she has a point to prove, but then Carmilla brings her other hand to rest on Laura’s cheek and Laura lets her own hands grip at the vampire’s elbows in order to tug her closer and she revels in the puff of air that leaves Carmilla’s mouth when their foreheads collide.

“Laura.” she says, brushing their noses together. Laura is very glad she’s already sitting. “Don’t do this anymore.

It would be so easy to say yes, to close the remaining distance between them, but Laura can see the innocent faces of those that have come to her protests, she sees the mass of people whose voices she knows can force both sides to take notice of the fact that war has a cost.

It's a sobering thought and she takes a breath before putting pressure on Carmilla’s elbows, pushing her back. They're still connected, though. Hands gripping at each other.

“Carm - “

“This won’t end well.”

“You don’t understand – “

“ _I_ don’t understand?” Her hands fall away and Laura kind of wishes she hadn’t said anything. “I want to keep you safe, don’t you get that?”

“There’s no guarantee I’ll be safe even if I do leave this alone - ” Laura catches the guilty look that flashes briefly across Carmilla’s features. “What are you not telling me?”

There's a pause.

“Nothing.” She nods almost to herself and pulls away completely. “Forget I said anything.”

Laura turns back to her computer and Carmilla says, almost immediately, “I’m leaving if you turn that camera on.”

“Tell me what you’re not saying.” Laura can’t take her eyes off of the smiling blonde in the paper. “You keep _lying_ – “

"I have told you nothing but the truth."

“But not all of it.”

There’s a sigh.

“This is safer for you.” Laura’s about to say something, but Carmilla continues. “It’s safer for me.”

“That’s not fair for you to say.”

“For you, sweetheart?” She closes her eyes because if she looks at even Carmilla’s reflection on the computer screen, she’d crack. “For you I’d fight dirty.”

Laura doesn’t answer and there’s silence for a few moments, frozen by the gentle crack in Carmilla's voice. She almost says something, almost calls Carmilla back before the unmistakable sounds of a bag being packed reaches her ears.

“You’re going to leave?”

“Are you gonna turn that camera on?” Laura supposes her silence is enough of an answer because Carmilla laughs humorlessly before the door creaks open. “I thought so.”


	20. Losses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura is faced with the consequences of her actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Always thankful that you guys take the time to read. We're coming up to the home stretch now. See you all next Thursday!

Laura gets the group together in the basement of the Lustig two days later because _Carmilla left_ and she may as well have left for a reason.

She loves that new people appear every meeting, but is wary of them nonetheless. Laura is slightly alarmed by the sight of the purple haired werewolf from Danny’s pack holding the hand of a girl who Laura knows she’s met before, but can’t quite place. They seem to be minding their own business, though, so she leaves them alone.

The swim team shows up and they all queue together towards the middle portion of the room as LaF explains to the crowd that a moment of silence will be held for their missing comrade.

Laura bows her head, closes her eyes, and attempts to clear her mind of Carmilla for the moment; instead focusing on the fact that one of _them_ is missing. That Carmilla’s vampire family - whom Carmilla has probably gone back to by now because of Laura’s stupid moral compass – keeps taking mortal girls either to turn them or to eat them. Somehow though, it always comes back to _Carmilla_ and it frustrates her to no end.

Laura feels like screaming.

 _Weird_ , it’s like someone actually did scream.

Less than a beat passes before Laura has to open her eyes because she realizes that there are, in fact, people screaming and that said screaming had originated from the back of the room. She makes eye contact with LaFontaine, who nods quickly before starting to push through the crowd.

Laura hurries along to follow. The screaming has intensified and multiplied now, and she feels like a fish swimming upstream because the crowd seems to be running in the opposite direction of where she wants to be and it’s getting harder to breathe when there are elbows and shoulders knocking into her, but she keeps going.

Until LaF, now coming back through the crowd, grabs her by the shoulders and spins her around and Laura thinks, _when did it get so loud in here_?

“Laura, go back.”

“What’s going on?” Laura yells back and she can barely hear herself over the screaming and the mad rush of bodies all headed for the door.

“Go back!” LaFontaine says and Laura suddenly registers that there’s blood on LaF’s arms and that they’re pushing her backwards. “Come on!”

Laura lets herself get carried by the momentum of the crowd despite her insides twisting at all the scenarios she imagines to have occurred.

Maybe Carmilla was right.

 

* * *

 

“I told you!” Danny is pacing and seething and Laura feels like a child being admonished. “What did I tell you about how dangerous this is, Laura?”

“I’m sorry – “

“God, no! No.” Danny crosses her arms. “You’re selfish and this little act of yours has gotten one of my people killed. This is a war! Stop risking the lives of those around you just because you’re not ballsy enough to tell that stupid vampire that you care about her!”

Danny pauses in both her pacing and her speech to level Laura with a glare.

“Where is she, anyway?”

“I don’t know.”

“Her brother killed one of my sisters. On neutral ground.” The fire in the werewolf’s eyes scares Laura a little and she wishes that LaF had stayed behind with her and watched while Danny skinned her alive in the parking lot of the Lustig. “Someone will answer for this.”

Laura doesn’t doubt someone will.

 

* * *

 

Laura learns later that the girl William Eisen had slaughtered quickly and bloodily in the basement of the Lustig theater was the same one that had been friendly to her when she had visited the Summer Society house in search of Danny.

She cries for the girl while walking home beside Danny whose face is tearless, but pale in fury and in grief. They walk in mostly silence until the taller girl stops at a turn and says, “This is me. Text me when you’re home safe.”

Laura nods and reaches out to grip Danny’s forearm.

“I really am sorry, for – “

“Grace Ferdinand.” Danny says helpfully.

“Grace.” Laura swallows. “I’m sorry about Grace.”

Danny only nods and starts heading down the path towards her sorority house. Laura watches her go for a moment before turning to walk home herself. She feels like a thousand bricks have been dropped in her stomach because this is _her fault_. An innocent girl is _dead_ because of her.

“Laura.” Laura looks over her shoulder at Danny who looks like a blur in the dark. There’s so much space between them, but the campus is so quiet tonight that Danny’s voice carries without her having to raise it. “I mean it when I say text me when you get home.”

“Yeah.” Laura says, thinking of Grace and this stupid war she’s managed to walk into the middle of. She thinks of Danny, having to console an entire pack and of the people she’s managed to give false hope to that this war is stoppable.

Because it isn’t and Carmilla’s idea of running before it really starts sounds smarter and smarter each day.

 

* * *

 

Laura realizes that she’s still crying when she goes to turn the knob on her dorm room door and a tear falls onto her hand. She wipes at her face before proceeding to walk into the space, closing the door behind her, only meaning to drop her bag off before going over to see how LaF is doing.

She may feel like shit, but LaF had blood on their hands and LaF saw the direct aftermath of Laura’s stupidity.

Her whole body goes rigid, though, when she sees that there is someone sat at her desk. At first, a part of Laura, the hopeful part, thinks it might be Carmilla, but the shoulders are too wide and the legs too long and when her eyes spot a bloody Converse, she sucks in a breath and reaches backwards for the doorknob.

“We both know I’d catch you before you can even leave the room.” Carmilla’s brother says in a singsong voice. “Sit down, Laura Hollis.”

“No thanks.” Laura closes her eyes and hopes against hope that this is just another one of her bad dreams. “You can keep sitting, though. Make yourself comfortable.”

He laughs.

“You’re a strange one.” In one quick movement, he spins around in the chair and Laura gasps at the sight of blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. He notices. “Don’t worry, pet. It’s not mine.”

His movements are twitchy and Laura tries and fails not to take a step back when he begins to approach.

“I’m William.” He says, grinning a bloody grin. “Pleasure.”

Laura briefly wonders if William is going to kill her or turn her and realizes quickly that she really doesn’t have a preference if it means that she’ll have to live a life under the Dean much like Carmilla does.

“Great.” She says and she knows her voice has gone up a notch, but can’t help it. “Unfortunately, I have somewhere to be so if you could show yourself out later – “

He’s invading her personal space within seconds and Laura cringes when he tucks a strand of hair behind her ears.

“What did my sister say,” He whispers. “when mother used you to deliver a message she’d been ignoring?”

“What message?”

He laughs again.

“Oh, this is rich. She never told you? That mother got into that pretty little head of yours one night?”

 _What the_ –

There is a knock at the door and it startles Laura to the point that she momentarily forgets about William and calls out,

“Just a minute.”

Whoever it is, though, just keeps knocking and Laura wants to scream at them to run away while they still have a chance of _getting_ away, but William’s hand clamps down on her mouth before she can even really entertain the idea.

“Laura?” _Oh god_ , that’s Elsie. “Fangs left her blood in your goddamn fridge. I’m gonna come in to get it if you don’t open up.”


	21. When You Think Tim McGraw...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura struggles with her words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's late! Minor technical difficulties. I'm also away next week unfortunately so no update again until the week after. I can see the end from here, it's exciting.
> 
> (Title is a Taylor Swift lyric)

William picks her up by the shoulders and deposits her in the chair less than a heartbeat after Elsie’s voice slips around the door and into the room.

“Get rid of her, Laura Hollis or I’ll kill her, too.” He says sweetly. “I’ll be in the bathroom in the meantime.”

Laura swallows as the bathroom door closes and she debates whether or not it’s worth it to risk Elsie’s life too.

She’s _always_ been selfish and right now, all she can see in her head is Carmilla walking away from her over and over again. They say your life flashes before your eyes just before you die and for some reason, all Laura can freaking _see_ is Carmilla.

“God, come on, little lady.” The doorknob jiggles and Laura scrambles to come up with a way to let Elsie know something’s wrong without tipping off William. “Open the door before I die of old age. _Jesus_.”

She’s got nothing. Nothing. This is her chance to let a friend know that someone is waiting in her bathroom to kill her and she’s _blanking_.

Laura stands and has to steady herself because her legs are jelly and William Eisen is waiting to kill her and Elsie is tugging at the doorknob like a madman. She’s going to die and her Dad – God, her _Dad_.

“I can break your door if I have to.” Elsie is getting more annoyed by the minute and so Laura walks as calmly as possible to the door and takes one last deep breath before opening it. “There you are. I thought you’d died on your way to answer the door.”

Laura forces a laugh as the blonde pushes past her and heads towards the fridge.

She can still hear Carmilla's dark laugh in her mind as the vampire left and she wants to say _Carmilla you were right_ and _Carmilla I'm so sorry_.

“So, you and Fangs? What’s going on there? She’s been a total nutcase recently.” Laura tries to keep her breathing even because she feels like she’d scream if she opens her mouth at this point. “Correction, you’re both acting like a nutcase, holy shit.”

Elsie bends down to grab Carmilla’s blood supply and Laura can feel her chance slipping away.

“My favorite Taylor Swift song is _Tim McGraw_.” She blurts out and Elsie’s look of disbelief would be comical if Laura isn’t on the brink of being eaten. She needs to tip Elsie off and this is honestly all she can think of. Elsie _knows_ Laura likes _All Too Well_ the best, she _should_ pick up on this. “I just thought you should know.”

“What the fuck?” Laura meets the eyes that are looking at her like she’s crazy and tries to direct them to the bathroom door. “Holy shit, what’s _wrong_ with you?”

“Elsie.” She says when the other girl doesn’t react to her panicked eyes. “Tell my Dad I love him. And Carmilla. Carmilla _knows_.”

“I’d like some of what you’re smoking.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.” Elsie sits down on the bed and says in a conversational tone, “So it’s the drug habit? Is that why Fangs left you?”

“There’s someone in my bathroom!” She finally yells because she is _not_ going down as a _drug addict_ for Christ’s sakes. “ _William Eisen is in my bathroom. The vampire who turned you is in my bathroom_.”

Elsie immediately stands and tenses and Laura positions herself behind the blonde, fully expecting the vampire to appear.

“Is this a joke? Are you pulling my leg?” Elsie sounds angry now. “This is not funny, Laura.”

“I swear. On my life. He’s in there and he’s gonna come out here any minute to kill both of us.”

“Do you realize how crazy you sound?” Elsie takes a step towards the bathroom door and Laura squeaks. “If he was here, he’d have killed you the moment he had the chance.”

“I’m not crazy, Elsie.”

She keeps walking and Laura shudders at the idea of the vampire having actually hidden under one of the beds instead of in the bathroom, so she ducks down and chucks one of her shoes under each one.

“Jesus Christ. Did you have a few drinks, too?”

“ _He’s here_.”

“Where?” Elsie has the doorknob of the bathroom door in her hand now. “Hanging from the ceiling?”

Laura looks up because that _is_ a distinct possibility.

“Holy fuck. How high are you?”

“I’m not!” Laura suddenly feels like she might actually be hallucinating because there’s no way William hasn’t killed both of them yet and the bathroom does not have a window for him to escape out of. “He was going to _eat_ me.”

Elsie rolls her eyes and pushes the door open.

“Oh my god!” Laura exclaims because Elsie is entirely too unfazed by it all. “At least bring some bear spray!”

“There’s no one here.” Elsie disappears into the bathroom just as Laura scrambles to grab the bear spray. “Not a soul.”

Elsie says, “Wait!” just as a quick knock sounds and the dorm room door opens.

Laura turns as soon as she hears the hinges creak and she raises her fists because _honestly_ , she can't deal with another threat right now when there are a total of one and a half vampires in her bathroom. When it swings open completely, however, she lets her arms drop to her sides.

“Laura? Stop leaving your door open.” Danny has her arms crossed and she herself _looks_ cross, but all Laura can feel is relief because she’s _not_ getting eaten today. “You never texted. I got worried.”

Laura's about to give Danny a hug because she feels so happy right now she might cry, but then Elsie walks out of the bathroom and Laura follows Danny’s eyes to look at the blonde, Danny's sorority sister who is supposed to be _dead_ , clutching a rat by the tail and looking very much alive.

 _Oh, shit_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and letting me know what you think, you guys are the best.


	22. Of Mugs and Paperweights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are resolved. Some aren't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! So here you have your second to last chapter. Last Laura chapter goes up on Thursday! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it!

“You’re dead.” Danny says, advancing towards Elsie, who quickly chucks the rat out the window and adopts a fighting stance that reminds Laura of Carmilla.

“I can explain this, Dan.” She says in a voice so soft that Laura has trouble believing it actually came from her. “I can explain.”

“Start with how you came back from the dead.” Danny’s voice is doing that thing where she’s enunciating her words so clearly that it’s scary. “Because you bled out inside that diner and I begged Carmilla Karnstein for your body more than once.”

Laura remembers the day Danny and Carmilla were talking in the middle of Alexander Street and she has to sit down at the thought of the werewolf asking Carmilla for Elsie’s body while the vampire waved it off casually.

“You – asked for my body?”

“It doesn’t matter because you’re not dead.” Danny keeps walking forward until Elsie’s backed against the window. “Do you work for the other side now? Is that what this is?”

“I don’t work for anyone.”

“So why are you in this dorm room? Hmm? Is it a coincidence?”

Laura finally regains her ability to speak when Elsie shoots her a _help me_ look.

“Danny!” She’s still a little unclear on how exactly these events have managed to unfold themselves and so her voice comes out unnaturally high. “ _Woah_ , okay, let’s – “

“And you! I can’t believe this! You knew she was alive?”

“Danny, I think you need to calm down – “

“Calm down?” Laura really does not want to do this right now. “As far as I’m concerned, she died in October.”

Laura only has to look at Elsie’s face for a second to know that the other girl’s worst fears have come true.

 

* * *

 

Laura doesn’t sleep after Danny and Elsie leave. She locks the door and even tips a chair underneath the doorknob to keep it from being opened. She also makes sure to latch the window closed.

She paces back and forth in between hers and Carmilla’s respective beds, bear spray in hand, ready to act should William Eisen come knocking again. Logically, she knows he won’t be coming back, but she’s also slightly worried about the rat problem she apparently has to deal with.

She should have expected it, with the filth Carmilla leaves behind in the bathroom.

She wonders if she should text Carmilla or something. About William. What is even the protocol for when your vampire _whatever_ ’s brother tries to kill you?

Laura is thinking about this when the windowpane rattles.

“Do not!” She yells, bear spray ready. “Do not even think about breaking in here!”

“Are you shitting me right now?” It’s Carmilla and Laura can feel her shoulders relaxing at the sound of her voice. “I sent Prius here to collect blood and I got her back in tears, open this window.”

She moves quickly to unlatch it and backs up as Carmilla throws a leg over the windowsill and then ducks in order to fully get inside. She's wearing her diner uniform and her hair falls a little over one of her eyes. Laura kind of doesn’t know what to do with her hands.

“I, uh, put the blood back in the fridge.” She says, pointing. “I didn’t know if it would go bad or whatever.”

Carmilla nods and bends to open the fridge door.

“Were you sleeping?” She asks conversationally. “I wouldn’t have woken you if you’d just left the window open for me as always.”

“I didn’t know I needed to.” There’s a bite in her tone that makes Carmilla stiffen. The vampire recovers quickly, though, and she looks fine, even if she’s a little too pale for Laura’s liking, when she straightens.

“I’ll just be going then.” Carmilla says, her bag of blood tucked safely under one arm. She does a quick glance around the room and her eyebrows quirk at the sight of the chair barricading the door. “Wow a sudden concern for safety, I’m shocked.”

There’s a pregnant pause and all Laura can think about is the burning sensation she once felt in her hand and the still-fading bruise on Carmilla’s cheek.

“What did William mean, when he said your mother used me to pass on a message?”

“He was –?”

“He tried to eat me earlier tonight.” Laura clarifies and she feels a bit of satisfaction at Carmilla’s wince. “Well he killed a werewolf first and then waited for me, in my computer chair, to come home and then he – “

“He _what_?”

“Killed a werewolf.”

“Fuck.” Carmilla drops the bag of blood on the counter. “And you? You’re in one piece? Nothing broken?”

She steps forward and holds her arms out almost awkwardly. Laura doesn’t hesitate to step into them. It feels like coming home and flying all at the same time, having Carmilla pressed against her again and Laura feels like her heart’s returning to its normal tempo.

“I’m sorry.” She says. “I should have listened to you.”

Carmilla sighs and gently pushes her away. The vampire’s eyes are softer than she has ever seen them.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

“How’d you make him leave?”

“I didn’t. He kind of just - disappeared. Elsie even went in the bathroom to try find him but all she found was a rat - “

“He _is_ a rat, Laura. Just like how I’m a cat.”

“ _What_?!”

Carmilla opens her mouth as if beginning to explain, but then cuts herself off as if she’d just realized something.

“Did he touch anything?”

“Probably.”

“This happened to Ell, too.” Carmilla is a streak of black around the room then, touching random objects and running her fingers along the spines of the books on Laura’s shelf while her voice floats around. Laura has to reach back in her mind to know who Carmilla’s talking about and her heart sinks when she does end up remembering. “They drove her crazy.”

“Crazy like how?”

“She killed herself.”

Laura stares.

“Have you been having headaches? Or even random dreams about inanimate objects?” Carmilla’s at the desk now. “Anything like that?”

Laura lets herself drop down to sit on Carmilla’s bed. Her vision is a bit fuzzy and she feels like the air around her has thickened.

She’d been having dreams about almost the entire contents of this dorm room.


	23. Breaking Boundaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura moves on from life in Room 307 and muses on what it means to be brave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very thankful for everyone that has read and continues to read this fic. I hope you all come along for the rest of the ride aka the second part of this series that's from Carmilla's POV.
> 
> Enjoy!

Carmilla falls to her knees in front of her when Laura tells her that she’s been having the worst headaches of her life.

“The nightmares.” Carmilla murmurs, holding Laura’s hands in between her own. “Tell me about them.”

“Kipling, my mug, my paperweight.” She hesitates before adding, “Your boots.”

Carmilla lets go of her so she can sit on the ground, yank her boots off, and toss them out the window with a grunt. She looks so small, her face pale from the lack of blood, that Laura wants to reach out and comfort her.

“We’ll need to get you out of here.” She nods as if she’s talking to herself. “It should get better, once you’re away from the things my Mother has cursed.”

“Am I going to die?” The question comes out of her mouth before she can think about it and she really doesn’t want to think about it, but here she is, faced once again with the thought of her impending doom.

Carmilla springs up to her knees and Laura sees her swallow. She opens her mouth a few times before answering.

“I don’t know.”

“Did Ell have nightmares?”

“Yes.”

“Did you fight dirty for her, too?”

Carmilla’s laugh is without humor.

“Now’s not the time to be petty, sweetheart.”

“So you did.” Laura pulls her hands away and Carmilla leans back to sit on her heels. “And here I thought you were starting to really care, but it turns out that  – “

“ _Do not_ ,” Carmilla’s voice is strangely quiet. “make assumptions about what I do and do not care about.”

“That’s nice, Carmilla.” Laura gets up because she can’t do this anymore. All this supernatural stuff is getting to her head, literally, and the only answer now seems to be running away or surrendering. “That’s really nice. I don’t know you, right? I have no idea who you _really_ are while you’ve got me all figured out. Newsflash, I’m not just some naïve provincial girl!”

There’s a pause and Laura can hear Carmilla taking deep breaths. She wants to yell at the other girl for pulling her into this mess, for making her fall so deeply in love that it’s skewed her priorities.

“We need to get you out of here.” Carmilla says, standing. She’s gritting her teeth. “Before you really start to offend me.”

“If you’re so eager to get me off your hands, just – “

“Stop putting words in my mouth.” She snaps. “Pack a damn bag and let’s get out of here before William comes crawling back.”

Carmilla walks over to the desk and Laura thinks of going over to her and saying sorry about the idiotic things that just came out of her mouth when she picks up the Tardis mug and hurls it at the wall. The paperweight is next and both shatter satisfyingly.

“Pack a bag.” Her eyes look dead for the first time in months. “We’re going to see if your wolf friend can help us.”

 

* * *

 

Laura explains Grace’s death to Carmilla in an attempt to change her mind about going to Danny for help.

“She’s dealt with losses before.” Carmilla shrugs. “Werewolves die all the time in Styria.”

“Speaking of, Elsie and her – “

Carmilla stops dead in her tracks.

“Do I owe her an apology?”

Laura doesn’t know if she’s talking about Danny or Elsie, but she does know she was way out of line back in the dorm room.

“Carmilla, look, back in the dorm – “

“I don’t care.” Carmilla says and that’s the end of that.

 

* * *

 

Danny is sitting outside when the two of them approach the house. Laura can see that she’s got a bottle in one hand and her head in the other. She looks like the weight of the world is resting on her shoulders.

“Xena.” Carmilla says, stopping. “You know this is as far as I can come.”

“I told you that that that number is for emergencies only.” Danny puts the bottle down and she yawns before starting to walk towards where Laura and Carmilla are standing. “I’ve had a rough go already today, Wednesday.”

“It is an emergency.”

“Well, last time we talked, you failed to mention that the dead sorority sister whose body I was begging you for is alive so forgive me if I don’t believe the bullshit you’re spewing right now.”

Laura watches Carmilla’s jaw clench.

“I was respecting her wishes.”

“At the expense of my trust.”

“Do you have room for Laura to stay or not?”

Danny looks taken aback by Carmilla’s directness. She glances at Laura for the first time since she walked up and Laura feels like a gust of cold wind just hit her in the face.

“She can’t stay with you?” Laura gets the feeling that Carmilla had filled Danny in via text and at any other time, she’d laugh at the thought of them having each other’s phone numbers, but there's a seriousness in the air right now that even she can't possibly miss.

“You’d keep her safe. My mother – “

“I’ll have to ask the house if they’re fine with you living here.” Danny says, turning her head to look at Laura again. Her eyes are almost cold and Laura's never seen them look like that before.“You’re not their favorite person right now.”

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugs and Laura decides she doesn’t like the way leadership drags her friend’s shoulders down like this.

“They'll put it up for a vote." Danny grimaces and purses her lips. "I’ll be back.”

 

* * *

 

“Did she say how long?”

“Patience, cupcake.”

“I don’t want them arguing over me.” Laura says, gripping at the straps of her backpack. “They just lost someone.”

“Life goes on.” Carmilla replies knowingly, her head tilted up and Laura knows she’s looking at the stars above.

“I really am sorry about earlier.”

“I don’t care.”

“But you only say that when you do.” Laura blurts out and she knows she must be beet red right now, but she doesn't care because she had missed Carmilla to the point of it being ridiculous and she _needs_ the vampire more than even she's willing to admit. “I know that. I also know you like grape soda and that you like to read Camus the most and that you have a scar on your knee that’s shaped almost like a question mark – “

“Laura.”

“I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She hesitates for a bit before she reaches into her jacket pocket. “I got you something. I was just going to leave it in the room...before.”

“What is it?” Carmilla shrugs in the way she does that makes it look like she's saying _no big deal_ and then she pulls out a bracelet of some sort from her pocket so quickly that it's painfully obvious she's not human.

“A kind of batwing charm?” Laura lets her tug at her wrist and a lump forms in her throat at the careful touch of Carmilla's fingers as she fastens the bracelet. “It makes you feel off to vampires.”

The lump in her throat gets bigger and she's barely choking out a _thank you_ just as Danny comes out of the house and jogs down the path to where Laura is still looking at Carmilla probably like a lovesick idiot.

“Whenever you want to come in.” Danny says.

 

* * *

 

The house apparently voted almost unanimously to offer her shelter and Laura feels beyond grateful for their support. Danny presses a key into her hand before turning to go back inside.

“Come in whenever you’re ready.” She says. “Say your goodbyes.”

“I’m not dying, Buffy.” Carmilla says, rolling her eyes.

Nevertheless, Danny leaves them to it and Laura thinks about the week she’s had and the way she's missed Carmilla's soft breath on her skin at night and she unfastens the charm on her wrist.

“Keep that on.” Carmilla says gruffly.

“I don’t want to feel off to you.”

Carmilla meets her eyes and Laura takes a deep breath before continuing.

“You were right about the protests. You were right about everything. I’m an idiot.” A small smile flits across Carmilla’s face. “All this time, I thought I wanted to save people from dying or becoming one of the undead, but all I really wanted to say is that I…care. About you. A lot.”

She feels brave. Kind of like she can single-handedly take down an army with the way Carmilla’s looking at her. It’s a completely new feeling because Laura has never been the brave one. She's been the one won't give up and the one who stupidly goes on without a thought to her well-being, but she's never been the brave one.

She fiddles with the batwing charm that she’s got in her pants pocket and looks at the way Carmilla’s eyes have widened to the point where she can see herself in them and she feels like Carmilla _cares_. She can feel her blood thrumming in her veins and she wonders briefly if this is what it feels like to jump from tall buildings or dive from waterfalls; Laura feels like this is maybe what bravery and courage and recklessness feel like.

And before those feelings can slip through her fingers she cups Carmilla’s cheek, the same one her own hands bruised all those nights ago, and she kisses her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thatssocee on tumblr if any of you need to talk. Otherwise, I'll hopefully see you all a couple of Thursdays from now!


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